Landlords fined €5,500 for not registering homes

Suspect in €10k theft 'wearing lady's belly top'

Ryan Nugent

Two Dublin landlords have been slapped with criminal convictions and €11,000 in fines and costs for failing to register their tenancies.

The cases brought by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) brings total convictions secured by the PRTB to 21 since the beginning of 2014.

The landlords will continue to face fines of up to €250 for each day they do not register their property.

Mr Barry Jones, from Warrenstown, Drumree, Co Meath received an initial fine of €3,000 but this was topped off by an added €2,500 in legal fees for the PRTB.

Mr Jones, received an initial two notices from the PRTB about his tenancy at 65 Manor Street, Flat 3, Dublin 7, asking him to comply with legislation, and having ignored these requests, received another two warning letters, before the PRTB were left with no option but to take legal action.

Meanwhile, Ms Mary Callaghan, who lives in 59 Hansfield, Blanchardstown, was convicted of a similar offence, relating to a property she was renting out at 17 Linnetsfields Square, Castaheaney in Dublin 15

The case was taken by the Department of Social Protection, who had been paying out rent supplement to Ms Callaghan, only to realise that the property was not registered with the PRTB.

Ms Callaghan did not attend the court, but was convicted with a similar fine of €3,000 and €2,500 in legal fees.

The cost of registering a property with the PRTB is €90 per tenancy, and rises to €180 if it is not paid within a month of the new tenancy.

Opportunity

Judge John O'Neill said that the PRTB were "very reasonable" and questioned why the defendants would not pay the "modest registration fee", while PRTB director Anne Marie Caulfield said that the defendants had ample opportunity to register, and only had themselves to blame.

"The landlords in these cases were both contacted by the PRTB on a number of occasions and given a number of opportunities to register their tenancies.

"When they still failed to do so we were left with no option but to proceed with criminal prosecutions," she said.

The PRTB use the registration fees to fund their agency, which regulates private rented accommodation.