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No conviction for west Cork landlord who took away tenants car, dug a big hole and buried it.

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  • 29-05-2024 7:43am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 8,001 ✭✭✭


    The man was owed rent and the car was an eyesore in his opinion so while the lady and her daughter were on holidays in the USA he put the car on a trailer, brought it to his own place, got a big machine, dug a huge hole and buried it, as you do. The Judge left him off with no conviction but ordered him to pay his former tenant a thousand euro within a week.

    He also moved another car they owned from the driveway of his house to the back of the house where it mysteriously caught fire. He wasn't charged in connection with this incident.

    The man had previously been ordered by the RTB to pay the couple nearly 40,000 euro for wrongful eviction and damage to property but the same Judge over ruled this because the landlord didn't have legal representation at the RTB hearing.

    It's not easy being a landlord and I suppose if they paid the rent on time none of this would have happened.

    Article is behind a paywall but I'm sure someone will be able to throw it up.

    https://www.independent.ie/regionals/cork/news/courts/west-cork-landlord-who-buried-tenants-eyesore-car-in-a-big-hole-in-a-field-avoids-conviction/a1387692502.html

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



«13456

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 4,545 ✭✭✭Topgear on Dave


    Dug a hole and buried it.

    How stupid is this fella. LOL



  • Registered Users Posts: 713 ✭✭✭foxsake


    on an emotional level,

    rent arrears and holidaying in the USA. sounds like they were living beyond their means. any sympathy I had automatically transferred to the landlord.

    on a practical level ,

    It wasn't the worst crime and he'd no previous. has to pay her 1000e . a fair judgement



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,199 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    This landlord fcuked about and found out.

    Probably was a wreck but it wasnt his wreck to bury.

    Ah the "poor old Irish landlord", why don't they just sell their spare house already and be done with it?



  • Registered Users Posts: 5,751 ✭✭✭Oscar_Madison


    With the RTB judgement just shows that no matter how frustrated you are with a tenant and no matter what you’re owed, if you take the law into your own hands by locking them out of the house, you’ll pay a heavy price.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,001 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    I agree, it's nice to see the judicial system have some empathy for the landlord for a change.

    The only other person I feel sorry for is Eamon Ryan and all the sleep he's going to lose thinking about the damage to the planet.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 713 ✭✭✭foxsake




  • Registered Users Posts: 8,001 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    Quite the opposite Oscar, you may need to read the original post again, the Judge put manners on the RTB.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,292 ✭✭✭blackbox


    I'd love to know why the RTB awarded the tenants 40k if they weren't paying rent but could afford a holiday in USA.



  • Registered Users Posts: 40,007 ✭✭✭✭Boggles


    It was scrap and rotted and hadn't been started in years, you would have had to have paid to take it away.

    €1000 is quite a generous offer on it, not based on actual value but sentimental value.

    According to him she was told several times to take it away.

    I'd have certain sympathies with the landlord, it seems everything was fine for years until the píss started been taken over handing over the rent, whether that was an accident or not it coincided with him being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer which put him in financial difficulties. Then everything escalated.

    Obviously doesn't justify what he did, but there is a lot more to this than the Independents one siding of it.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,001 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    Probably because they think they are a law unto themselves, which they most certainly are not.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 16,199 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    It wasn't his property and he had no say on what she should do with it.

    He fcuked up doing what he did, almost Basil Fawlty like behaviour.



  • Registered Users Posts: 40,007 ✭✭✭✭Boggles


    Where did I suggest it was his property?

     he had no say on what she should do with it.

    Course he had, the vehicle was abandoned on his property.

    What he should have done was move it onto public land and leave it there.



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,199 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    He had no right to lay a hand on it, move it or throw it in a hole, no matter how much it "offended" him. He screwed up.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,795 ✭✭✭hoodie6029


    RTB specifically say that for their mediation service you do not need legal representation. So it’s odd that the judge overruled them on this. And to be fair, if I had nicked someone’s car, I’d be seeking legal advice. He probably went along solo so he could later throw his hands up and say he didn’t know what was going on.
    As for the tenants living beyond their means, someone else could have paid for the holiday for them and had no knowledge of their rent situation.

    The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,001 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    He didn't really screw up though, the eyesore is gone and buried.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,001 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    The extended holiday to the USA was an annual outing for the pair so hardly paid for by someone else other than the poor landlord who it seems was unwillingly subsiidizing it.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



  • Registered Users Posts: 40,007 ✭✭✭✭Boggles


    The Judge didn't over rule the RTB, he refused to endorse an order.

    He is perfectly entitled to this.

    In our constitution we have Equality of Arms, which basically means in an legal dispute both sides have to be given a fair opportunity to present their case.

    He couldn't show up for the hearing because he was ill. So he phoned his case in.

    The RTB should have postponed it.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,285 ✭✭✭mikethecop


    RTB is a strange thing, you can sign a lease on a property and then not bother paying rent for years and leave a owner tens of thousands of euro out of pocket yet go on living in a property regardless. the years of delay and expense to get some one like that out falls on some one who did nothing wrong.

    another symptom of weak leftist governments that we have had in Ireland for many years



  • Registered Users Posts: 40,007 ✭✭✭✭Boggles


    You have moved the goal posts.

    It wasn't his property and he had no say on what she should do with it.

    He has an absolute say on what has been abandoned on his property.

    Unfortunately the legal process to get it removed is long and torturous.



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,199 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    You shouldn't bury cars either. Heavy metals? Fuel? Engine oil?



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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,545 ✭✭✭Topgear on Dave


    What I mean is I thought the days of landowners burying whatever toxic waste they wanted on their land for future generations to deal with were behind us.

    Evidently not.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,460 ✭✭✭FishOnABike


    Should Mr. O'Sullivan, on his own admission, now be charged with both theft and illegal dumping for
    1. dishonestly appropriating property without the consent of its owner and with the intention of depriving its owner of it.
    2. disposing of the car in a hole in the ground in a field rather than bringing it to an Authorised Treatment Facility.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,001 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    What about all the damage flying over and back to the USA every year causes?

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,286 ✭✭✭howiya


    Important to note that in this case there isn't years of arrears. It appears to have been a couple of months at most,

    https://www.rtb.ie/downloads/tribunal-report/TR1222-005872-DR1022-80404_Tribunal_Report.pdf



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,795 ✭✭✭hoodie6029


    Says who? The only person who knows their exact financial situation is the tenants. One explanation is as plausible as the next

    The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,001 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    More than a couple, it was 4 months of rent arrears.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,285 ✭✭✭mikethecop


    i spoke in generalities but say if it was 6 months at 1500 its still a substantial sum and growing every month , in this case where the defaulters seemed to have plenty to spend on trans Atlantic flights it is exasperated further



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,001 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    He was up in court yesterday charged with criminal damage to the mini van and walked away without a conviction.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,286 ✭✭✭howiya


    The thread is specific to a particular case. Generalities like those posted may give the wrong impression that the tenant didn't bother paying the rent for years or went on to live in the property for years regardless.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,286 ✭✭✭howiya


    That is disputed. From the link;

    The Appellant Landlord stated that the Tribunal had all the evidence before it and that on
    the 5 September, 2022 the Respondent Tenants owed four months’ rent.

    She
    stated that when the Appellant Landlord texted her about the rent on the 5 September,
    2022, only two months rent (July and August) had been due at that point, as the rent for
    September was due on the 9th of the month. She said that she paid the rent for the
    outstanding months and informed the Appellant Landlord that she would take care of
    September’s rent on return from America. It was her evidence that she heard nothing further
    from the Appellant Landlord and assumed that everything was fine

    Also from tribunal report you'll note that the RTB made no finding re rent arrears.



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