Galway landlord ordered to pay compensation to tenant

Abderrahmane Belacel had been living in Apartment 6 over the Oslo at 226 Upper Sathill since July 2022, paying rent of €870 a month to his landlord, Brian Lynch. Mr Belacel told a Tenancy Tribunal he had not been at home when the blaze occurred, and that “another person got in and started the fire”.

He claimed Mr Lynch had told him he would have to pay for any fire damage, and would have to restore the apartment to its previous condition, which he eventually did. A fire safety audit was carried out in January 2024 and identified “very serious issues” with the structure of the building, finding that substantial remediation works were required.

However, it was not until early the following year that Mr Lynch met with the tenants to advise them that it would be necessary to terminate their tenancies to facilitate the refurbishment. They were served with termination notices on February 21, 2025, requiring them to vacate the apartments by September 1, 2025.

Shortly afterwards, the Chief Galway Fire Officer issued a closure order in relation to the apartments, requiring them to be vacated by March 10. James Doyle, representing the landlord, told the tribunal Mr Lynch believed this closure order superseded the notices of termination, and that his ‘hands were tied’ in relation to the continuation of the tenancies.

He accepted that the notices served on February 21, 2025 had been invalid, but argued that the closure order had ‘trumped’ the termination anyway.

An earlier determination by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) had found that Mr Lynch was in breach of his obligations regarding maintenance and repair of the property, awarding damages of €3,855 to Mr Belacel.

Mr Doyle appealed this determination, arguing that Mr Lynch had never sought to evict his tenants, but could not carry out works to meet fire safety requirements while they remain living in the apartments.

Graham Martin from Threshold, representing Mr Belacel, argued that the landlord had an obligation to maintain the dwelling to minimum standards under Section 12(1)(b) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, and had breached this obligation.

In its determination, the Tenancy Tribunal of Finian Matthews, Andrew Nugent and Ciara Doyle found that Mr Lynch was in breach of his obligations in respect of the standard and maintenance of the dwelling.

They said Galway Fire Service had identified deficiencies with the floor-ceiling combination in parts of the building, while some partitions and windows needed to be assessed, and gaps around fire doors were highlighted.

Mr Lynch took no action when he was advised of deficiencies in January 2024 until he served notice of termination on the tenant in February 2025, seeking vacant possession to carry out the refurbishment works.

Even though the notice had proven to be invalid, it was a genuine attempt to comply with obligations, so Mr Lynch could not be deemed to be in breach after that date, the tribunal found.

However, the period from January 2024 to February 2025 was ‘far too long’ for the landlord to have ignored ‘very serious issues’ relating to the building’s structure, it added. The tribunal ordered Mr Lynch to pay damages of €3,000 to Mr Belacel.