Dublin landlord ordered to pay €17,500 to tenant over refusal to sign rent supplement forms

Seán McCárthaigh

A Dublin landlord has been ordered to pay a tenant €17,500 in compensation over his repeated refusal to complete forms to enable his tenant to claim a Rent Supplement payment.

The Workplace Relations Commission ruled that the landlord, Michael McManus, had discriminated against his tenant, Hakim Diaf, by treating him less favourably than a tenant not in receipt of a social welfare payment.

The WRC also found that the landlord had victimised Mr Diaf through his abusive conduct towards his tenant which had escalated following his complaint to the WRC.

Mr McManus did not attend a hearing of the case before the WRC in November 2023 and was not legally represented.

Mr Diaf told the WRC that he has a tenancy for a bedsit in a house owned by Mr McManus on Longwood Avenue, South Circular Road, Dublin 8 since December 2009, which he claimed was “in poor condition.”

Mr Diaf, who is in receipt of Disability Allowance due to significant health problems, said he initially paid a weekly rent of €109 which was increased to €160 in 2012.

The WRC heard that the tenant was entitled to a weekly Rent Supplement payment of €128 with the landlord collecting the remaining €32 in cash from Mr Diaf.

It was informed that Mr McManus had completed and signed all necessary forms for the Department of Social Protection up to February 2022.

Mr Diaf said the landlord subsequently refused to sign new forms required as part of a review by the Department and replied angrily to him: “Just pay me cash or leave.”

The tenant said he asked Mr McManus repeatedly on a weekly basis to sign the forms when he called to collect his rent, but his requests were met with outright refusal and verbal abuse.

Mr Diaf said he had also received repeated warnings from the Department of Social Protection that he would lose his Rent Supplement if he did not return the required forms.

The WRC heard his Rent Supplement payment was suspended on February 28th, 2022 and closed on July 13th, 2022.

Mr Diaf said Mr McManus then refused to accept his portion of the rent and retained his rent book.

He claimed the landlord also became increasingly abusive and demanded that he should leave the property without notice of termination of his lease.

Mr Diaf said he had nowhere else to go and had become so afraid that he left the bedsit on Fridays in order to avoid further confrontation with his landlord when he came to collect the rent.

He told the WRC that Mr McManus had opened the door to his bedsit with a key without notice on several occasions and shouted expletives at him and threatened to replace him with another tenant, while the electricity had also been disconnected on a few occasions.

The WRC heard that Mr Diaf felt pressured to pay his landlord €480 in cash for three weeks' rent in May 2023 after Mr McManus had been particularly threatening.

The tenant said he became extremely unwell and required ission to hospital for 11 days that month as a consequence of the stress and anxiety he experienced.

Mr Diaf said he still felt considerable anxiety and distress due to the constant fear of homelessness hanging over him.

A representative of the housing charity, Threshold, in a submission on behalf of Mr Diaf said he was in a particularly vulnerable and precarious situation as he could not afford to pay the full rent without the Rent Supplement to which he was legally entitled.

WRC adjudication officer, Aideen Collard, noted legislation clearly imposes a legal obligation on landlords to accept recipients of housing assistance as tenants.

Ms Collard said she was satisfied on the evidence that Mr McManus had refused to complete and sign the required forms since February 2022 which has resulted in the tenant losing his Rent Supplement payment.

She said Mr Diaf was a very credible witness whose evidence had been corroborated by a representative from Threshold as well as by documentation and contemporaneous notes he and his brother had taken of meetings with their landlord.

Ms Collard said she was satisfied that Mr McManus had discriminated against his tenant and also that he had victimised Mr Diaf by his conduct towards him after Mr Diaf had sought to enforce his rights under the Equal Status Act.

The WRC ruled that the landlord’s discrimination was “at the more serious end of the scale” and awarded Mr Diaf compensation of €12,500.

It ordered Mr McManus to pay his tenant a further €5,000 for the effect of victimisation arising from the escalation of his abusive conduct after being informed of the WRC claim against him.

The WRC also directed the landlord to complete all required documentation to allow Mr Diaf to have his Rent Supplement reinstated.