{"id":132588,"date":"2025-10-19T20:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T20:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/132588\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T20:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T20:19:10","slug":"tenant-who-said-she-saw-landlord-peering-through-window-at-night-is-awarded-e2000-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/132588\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenant who said she saw landlord \u2018peering\u2019 through window at night is awarded \u20ac2,000 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tenant who alleged she saw her landlord \u201cpeering\u201d through her window at night has been awarded damages by a Residential Tenancies Board<\/a> tribunal.<\/p>\n

Tenant Michaela Reape had been renting a property at Bachelors Walk in Ballina, Co Mayo, from landlord Marcus O\u2019Hara since July 2020. She vacated it following the incident last February.<\/p>\n

She told the tribunal how she was watching television at night on February 3rd when she saw an unknown male figure outside the windows \u201cpeering within\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Reape further alleged Mr O\u2019Hara was in possession of a suitcase and conducted himself in a manner she deemed \u201cinappropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n

The tenant had previously received a notice of termination from the landlord in October last year, saying he required the property for his own use.<\/p>\n

Ms Reape reported the incident to garda\u00ed, she said, although two nights later she was informed by a friend living nearby that the landlord had allegedly returned at about 9pm, saying he was there to \u201crepair the boiler\u201d.<\/p>\n

She alleged before the tribunal that garda\u00ed subsequently issued him a warning for trespassing. Ms Reape said she remained on the upper floor of the home to avoid Mr O\u2019Hara afterwards. She left about three weeks later.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Number of landlords investigated over serious breaches in rental law doubles<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Ms Reape was awarded further damages after the tribunal heard the heating system remained broken for more than two years, depriving her of \u201cbasic and essential warmth\u201d.<\/p>\n

The tenant said she had no means of heating her home other than a coal fire downstairs, saying the property was so cold she was \u201ccompelled to remain solely in the livingroom\u201d until the incident in February.<\/p>\n

The use of the fire affected her lungs, she said, saying she required hospital treatment, but she could not attend for admission as she would be \u201cunable to work and pay rent\u201d.<\/p>\n

She alleged the letting agency was aware of the issues, but no repairs were carried out.<\/p>\n

Ms Reape said she paid \u20ac19,000 in rent over the years and was seeking compensation for medical and counselling expenses incurred as a result of the \u201cphysical and psychological toll caused by the landlord\u2019s conduct and the uninhabitable condition of the premises\u201d.<\/p>\n

The tribunal noted the conditions persisted despite Ms Reape\u2019s repeated complaints and led to \u201cserious adverse health consequences, including documented respiratory issues\u201d.<\/p>\n

It awarded Ms Reape \u20ac1,000 in damages, reflecting the \u201cseriousness, duration, and impact of the landlord\u2019s noncompliance of the tenant\u2019s health, wellbeing and quiet enjoyment of the dwelling\u201d.<\/p>\n

The tribunal accepted the tenant\u2019s accounts concerning Mr O\u2019Hara\u2019s attendance at the property at night as \u201ccredible and consistent\u201d and it said the landlord, who did not attend the hearing, did not contest any of her evidence or claims.<\/p>\n

It said the incident constituted an unlawful intrusion into Ms Reape\u2019s enjoyment of the dwelling and caused \u201cdistress and anxiety\u201d, before awarding her a further \u20ac1,000 in damages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tenant who alleged she saw her landlord \u201cpeering\u201d through her window at night has been awarded damages…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,19,17,2354,41275],"class_list":{"0":"post-132588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-mayo","13":"tag-residential-tenancies-board-prtb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}