Tenants of big landlord firm rack up €75,000 in arrears

Vestry fund evicted pair of renters who owed more than €18,000

Posed image of a renter under financial pressure. Photo: Getty Images

Amy Molloy Twitter Email

March 02 2023 02:30 AM

Tenants renting from an Irish fund with hundreds of properties in its portfolio have racked up arrears of more than €75,000 over the last two years.

Disputes published by the rental watchdog show some tenants owe around €18,000.

The Vestry Limited Partnership is now among the biggest landlords in the State and has been involved in 26 disputes with tenants.

Between September 2019 and last June, the company had gross rental receipts of €25.5m.

According to its financial accounts for 2021, the partnership “succeeded in letting in excess of 99pc of the assets purchased”.

“Lettings continue at pace even during the Covid-19 crisis, with 819 lettings completed with rents agreed 12pc above business plan,” the company’s financial statement reads.

However, while the company was largely profitable, there were a number of cases taken with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) over outstanding rent.

Some tenants also took cases against the Vestry Limited Partnership to challenge rent increases.

The cases concerned properties being rented in Tipperary, Dublin, Cork, Meath and Kildare.

Last November, the company took a case against a tenant renting a property in Tallaght, Dublin.

The RTB ordered him to pay €15,122 in arrears and found the eviction notice served to be valid.

Vestry was ordered by the RTB to return a deposit of €800 to a tenant renting a property in Naas, Co Kildare

In another case, two tenants renting a property in Tyrellstown, Dublin, were evicted and ordered to pay arrears of €18,841.

Other tenants renting from the company ran up arrears of between €1,000 and €7,600.

Stock image

The RTB also found in favour of some tenants who took cases over rent reviews and deposit retention.

Last March, Vestry was ordered by the RTB to return a deposit of €800 to a tenant renting a property in Naas, Co Kildare.

It was also found to have served a couple of invalid rent reviews.

A tenant who accused the company of breaching its landlord obligations was awarded €3,611 because necessary repairs were not carried out and some rent was overpaid.

The RTB also found a rent review notice served was invalid.

In another case, the watchdog found that a rent review served on a tenant in Limerick was valid because the property was not located in a Rent Pressure Zone.

The rent had remained unchanged since the commencement of the tenancy, meaning the landlord was legally entitled to increase the rent by €200.

Vestry’s accounts show the pandemic had minimal impact on its activities and it has significantly expanded its rental empire over a short space of time.

The Vestry General Partner DAC, the entity the fund uses to register its investments, has a significant property portfolio. It spent €88.5m on investment properties between March 2020 and March 2021.

Between December 2019 and April 2020, it had gross rental receipts of €2.2m.

By August 2021, it had 585 lettings and gross rental receipts of €15m.

Its most recent accounts show it has 819 lettings and gross rental receipts of €25.5m.

It made a profit of €12.1m in the year ended March 2022.

Efforts to contact Vestry for comment were unsuccessful.