Tenant who lived in car for months with partner and child due to rent hike awarded damages

A Kildare tenant who said he had to live in a car with his partner and young child for months as he could not afford an invalid rental increase has been awarded almost €16,000 in damages and overpaid rent.A Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) tribunal heard landlord David Massey also allegedly sought a “goodwill payment” from the “desperate” family to secure the house in Kilbelin Close, Newbridge.Dylan Keating, who had been approved for the Homeless Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), began renting the property from Massey in December 2022.Rent had previously been set at €1,650, meaning the highest Massey could charge Keating was €1,683 under Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) rules, which restricted increases to 2 per cent per year.READ MOREHowever, Keating claimed Massey told him another party was willing to pay more and it was suggested he pay an additional €200 per month, bringing the rent to €1,883.Massey, however, claimed the €1,883 was agreed “at the outset”, though he accepted he “overlooked” the 2 per cent rule.Keating agreed to pay the €200, saying he was previously homeless and “desperate” to secure a home for his family. He also claimed Massey had asked “what else he could offer”, and suggested a “goodwill payment” of €1,000, which Keating said he paid in cash.Massey claimed Keating had offered the payment, but that he “definitely” did not receive it.About three months after they moved in, the monthly €200 top-up was increased to €466, with Massey telling the tribunal it had emerged HAP was only covering €1,417 of the rent.On December 23rd, 2024, Keating received a notice of termination from Massey, who said he intended to sell the house.Massey, who said he changed his mind once he realised he would be “hit” with a capital gains tax bill of €50,000 upon sale, then offered Keating a new lease.The new lease set the rent at €2,150, meaning the top-up payment would be increased to €766. Keating claimed Massey also sought a further deposit of €1,750, which Massey said he did not recall.Unable to afford the new rent, Keating and his family left the house, telling the tribunal he and his partner lived in their car for six months with their child, who was less than 12 months old at the time.He argued Massey “forced” them “into homelessness”.The couple’s two other children lived with both sets of grandparents at the time, Keating said, adding they were “overwhelmed by the family being split up”. The family ultimately moved into a property provided by the council last December.Noting Massey had increased the rent by 14 per cent from €1,650 to €1,883, despite the RPZ rules, the tribunal found Keating had overpaid more than €7,000 in rent from 2023 to 2025.It said the landlord had “ignored the legal provisions around rent” and “attempted to impose a higher-than-permitted rent”, and ordered him to repay the sum.The tribunal found Massey’s conduct amounted to an “abuse” of the termination procedure, saying a termination on the grounds of sale cannot be used to “place pressure” on a tenant to accept an invalid rent review.It was satisfied Keating left the house as a consequence of the notice and Massey’s “reliance on that notice as leverage for the invalid rent review”.The tribunal ordered Massey to pay €7,500 in damages, which it said was proportionate to the “seriousness of the breach” and the six-month period Keating and his family spent homeless.It also accepted Keating’s evidence that he paid €1,200 in cash, being the “goodwill payment” and the initial €200 top-up, which it ordered Massey to repay.