Landlord facing RTB challenge for invalid notice to quit sent to RAS tenant
John Barry a man in his 60s who had to forcibly retire at 58 following a heart attack and who subsequently suffered a debilitating brain injury has been given until May 1st to vacate the home he rents from the council who received the property from James Moore of Grehane Charleville under a 10 year availability agreement after he claimed that he needed the property for a family member to move in to.
In 2019 a dispute arose between Mr. Barry and Mr. Moore over the price of gas where Mr. Barry suspected that he was being overcharged and withheld payment. Mr Moore is the sole supplier of Gas to his properties therefore Mr. Barry was unable are unable to shop around for competitive pricing. A dispute was raised with the RTB over the payments and while the dispute was ongoing Mr. Barry had his gas cut off on several occasions by Mr. Moore, leaving Mr Barry with no hot water or heating, in one case for over a month. Mr. Moore claimed that the council agreed the utility rates, but when they were contacted they said this isn't something they do. The details of the contact state that the heating is provided by bottled gas supplied by tenant.
Gas was restored after Mr. Barry contacted Threshold who informed Mr. Moore that such action could be considered a "forced eviction". Initially the RTB sided with Mr. Moore but after an appeal the RTB agreed that Mr. Barry was being overcharged and agreed to a lower payment in line with the evidence presented to them, but Mr. Moore has continued to charge for gas at the price that was deemed unfair.
A notice-to-quit was served to Mr. Barry on October 27th 2022, the day after Mr Barry completed the payments of the determination order from the RTB after the RTB ruled that he had been overcharged for gas by Mr. Moore. He now faces emergency accommodation if he complies with the date set on the termination notice and leaves his home on May 1st, unless the Council can provide him with suitable alternative accommodation. This is causing Mr. Barry excessive stress and anxiety as he needs to use medical aids and has daily carer visits to ensure his safety and wellbeing, which would likely be difficult or even impossible to satisfy in
It is likely that all tenants in the development were similarly overcharged, some of whom would be entitled to fuel allowance but could not receive it as Mr. Moore would not provide acceptable receipts for their fuel use.
No documentation has been received by Mr. Barry from the RTB suggesting that Mr. Moore has not followed the requirement that has been in place since July 2022, to inform the RTB that a tenant has received a notice-to-quit on the same day that the tenant receives the notice.
As Mr. Barry is facing a "no-fault" eviction the reason given by Mr. Moore for why he needs the property back is for his son to move in but on March 23rd a similar property in the development, which is solely owned by Mr. Moore, was advertised as being available for rent for €1,350 per month on daft.ie with availability from April 23rd. This property has now been subsequently let at €1,400 per month.
Rents for other similar properties in the development were advertised at €700 in 2017 and €880 in 2020.
Previous Arguments
Mr. Moore had previous arguments with Mr. Barry the first of which was over having 3 cars and a van parked in the development, not causing obstruction. A year prior to moving into the development Mr. Barry had worked for a car dealership and the cars were were holdovers from his job but he suffered a heart attack in 2018 leaving him unable to continue his work. After the complaint Mr. Barry parked some of the cars elsewhere but wasn't able to find a place to move all of them immediately leading to increasingly hostile communications from Mr. Moore.
In 2020, during Covid lockdown, Mr. Barry suffered a brain injury which was not diagnosed until an MRI in 2021. The brain injury has left John with balance problems resulting in his reliance on walking aid, memory issues, aphasia and seizures. He is attending Dr Chaila, Consultant Neurologist UHL, Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, Headway, Neuro-Rehabilitation, Speech & Language and Headway Senior Psychologist for treatment of his injury and rehabilitation but the intimidation he has faced from Mr. Moore has led to increased stress causing him to be too unwell to attend many of these appointments.
Due to Mr. Barry’s condition some maintenance issues were raised with Mr. Moore to ensure clear walkways so that Mr. Barry could use walking aid but the response to these requests led to even more hostility from Mr. Moore.
Cones were drilled into the ground around a dropped curb area to prevent Mr. Barry from being able to access transport to his appointments.
Ruairí Fahy, a local representative of People Before Profit who has been helping Mr. Barry challenge the eviction, said "There has been a campaign of intimidation against Mr. Barry for trying to stand up for his rights a tenant and have Mr. Moore maintain the property at a level required by the contract he signed with the council. To do such a thing against any tenant is morally wrong, but for the managing director of a nursing home with a brain injury unit to continue to intimidate somebody with a brain injury after being asked to stop by a carer is just disgusting."
James Moore’s Businesses
Mr. Moore and his wife Anne Marie Moore are the owners of Beech Lodge Care Facility in Bruree and the Ennis Road Care Facility. In May 2019 a complaint was made to HIQA about the safety and quality of life of residents in the facility. During their investigation they found that one "very serious" abusive interaction had not been documented. In 2022 a HIQA inspection of the Ennis Road Care Facility found the centre was "not compliant" with the regulations on resident protection or complaints.
Under the protection heading the report states: "inspectors found that the management of safeguarding incidents in the centre was not in line with the HSE (2004) National guidelines for the safeguarding of vulnerable adults" while under the complaints heading it states: "complaints were not managed in line with the centre's own complaints policy or the requirements of regulation 34... While complaints were recorded there was no record of the investigation of the complaint, the action taken to address any issues, or the satisfaction of the complaint"
In 2018 Mr. Moore entered into an agreement with Limerick City and County Council (LCCC) to make 5 residential units available for a period of 10 years. As part of the agreement Mr. Moore was required to keep the maintenance of the properties to a reasonable standard and an inspection was carried out by the council which made a list of works to be carried out. A letting agent for Mr. Moore wrote to the council claiming this work was completed in 2018.
LCCC carried out another inspection in 2021 following a request by Mr. Barry which found that many of the works that had been in the 2018 inspection had not yet been carried out, with many of those that had been completed only having been done after Mr. Moore had been informed that LCCC would be carrying out an inspection. In December 2022 a further inspection was carried out and it was noted that works that should of been completed following the April 2021 inspection remained outstanding and remain so to date. Passive ventilation was recommended by LCCC due to damp in the property. Holes were drilled into the walls of each room however these hole were left uncovered for over 10 months over the 2022 winter, one hole remains uncovered.
Mr. Barry states “I feel I am being punished for standing up for my rights with regard to maintenance and the overcharging of Gas, my home became a prision and being left with holes in the walls was the torture within the property. James Moore turned my home into a prison cell for my sentence as I was the only person left with the open holes in the walls. I explained this to the council engineers when they came in December 2022 and asked why the place was so cold and why I hadn't blocked the holes with a towel, even though this would have made the damp worse. I'm fighting not just for myself but for the other tentants here who are too frighted to stand up for their rights for fear of eviction also.”
Trish Summerly, John's partner and carer said “I have on a number of occasions tried to engage with James Moore on a humane level, I have explained to James Moore the nature of John's brain injury and the issues surrounding it only to be told "I do not deal with bad tenants''. I was unaware you could be deemed a bad tenant for requesting and highlighting what is legally required by a Landlord. From a carers perspective seeing someone suffer at the hands of a Landlord who operates care facilities makes me fearful for those in the nursing homes and the quality of care they are receiving. John would be content in the property if the maintenance agreed in the contract was carried out, as the property is fit for his needs. He would be happy to live his life without the bulling, harassment and intimidation in the property and complete the 6 years remaining on the lease. All he wants is to be treated equally as he remembers a time when this was the case.”
