Tenants who discovered a Ukrainian family living in their former apartment after their tenancy was terminated, despite their landlord saying he required the home for his own use, have failed to have their complaint upheld.
Michal and Anita Nowak received a notice of termination from landlord Fionan Comerford, who told them he intended to occupy the apartment in Priory Court, Kildare town. The tenants, who had lived there since 2015, vacated the apartment in February 2025, though Anita Nowak claimed that, about two weeks later, she was told others were “viewing” the property.
She told a Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) tribunal she subsequently went to the apartment to “check for post”, and when she knocked on the door, it was answered by a Ukrainian woman and her daughter, according to a tribunal report published on Friday.
Michal Nowak claimed he was told by the new residents they were renting the property from Comerford for €1,300, up from the €844 they were paying. The pair also submitted a photograph into evidence of post issued to the Ukrainian residents at the address. He told the tribunal he believed that once the tenancy had been terminated, Comerford would move in but “he had not”, he maintained.
The tenants told the tribunal they brought the dispute so Comerford would “take responsibility for what had happened”, claiming the issue had “caused stress” and affected their health.
Speaking on behalf of their former landlord, John Comerford claimed Fionan Comerford had moved into the apartment about two months after the tenants vacated.
He confirmed that a Ukrainian woman and her daughter had moved into the property, but said they were “guests” of the landlord and this arrangement lasted two months. He told the tribunal that a utility bill had been put in the name of the woman as she required a proof of address.
Another Ukrainian person subsequently stayed at the property for a period, he said.
However, he told the tribunal Comerford was the sole occupant of the apartment by the time of the hearing in February this year, though he was “away travelling a lot”.
The tribunal did not uphold the former tenants’ complaint and found Fionan Comerford had not “abused the termination process”, saying it was satisfied he moved into the property.
It said it was also satisfied the Ukrainian people staying at the apartment were “categorised as guests” of Comerford under the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) scheme and that he had not entered into a new tenancy.
A letter from the Department of Social Protection outlining that the ARP had been paid to Comerford for hosting the Ukrainian people had been entered into evidence.
Since March, new ARP applications for properties that have been registered with the RTB at any time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 are no longer eligible. The move aimed to stop private rental properties being used.
The monthly tax-free payment was cut from €800 to €600 last June. It will be cut again to €400 from next month as part of a gradual phasing-out of the scheme, which is due to be wound down by March 2027.
The tribunal separately did not uphold Comerford’s complaint that Michal and Anita Nowak caused damage to the property in excess of normal wear and tear. Comerford had attributed mould to his belief the tenants were running a “laundry business” at the apartment. He further claimed the property required “significant cleaning” and was flooded after the tenants removed their washing machine.
No photographic evidence was provided to support his claims, the tribunal noted, “save for a photograph of a wet carpet”.