Dublin landlords ordered to pay $1,337.90 after tenant proves eviction notice was false

€1,337.90 is the total sum a Residential Tenancies Board tribunal ordered two Dublin landlords to pay their former tenants on Friday. The award covers €837.90 in moving costs and €500 in damages.

The dispute centers on a property on Anglesea Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Sean Murray and Aisling Judge received a notice of termination in September 2025. Landlords Sinead Ryan and Niall Bleahen claimed the home was required for their daughter because of its proximity to University College Dublin.

Murray stated that the notice arrived one week after CAO offers were issued. He told the tribunal that he researched the landlords' daughter online. Her LinkedIn profile indicated she had completed her Leaving Certificate roughly 10 years earlier. She had also graduated from college and started a job around the time the eviction notice was served.

Murray and Judge vacated the property within two weeks of receiving the notice in September 2025. They had planned for Judge’s father to live with them for a period while he underwent treatment for cancer. The departure also followed a change in the property’s management company. The tenants said the new manager attempted to revoke their written permission to keep an 11-year-old terrier.

After moving out, Murray hired a private investigator to verify the occupancy claim. James Boyle, a licensed private investigator, testified to the tribunal. He conducted checks on the property about 30 times over October and November last year. Boyle found the home empty on all but two occasions.

On those two days, Boyle noted a car parked outside and the lights were on. He attempted to make deliveries to the address over a two-month period, but no one answered the door. Boyle described the tenants as looking “hurt by the way they were treated.” He confirmed the surveillance job ended in November and he had not been monitoring the site since, though he admitted he may have seen lights on after that point.

Murray told the tribunal that shortly after lodging the dispute with the RTB, he saw lights on and a car at the property. He argued he had “strong grounds to believe” the notice was issued on “false grounds.” He said the eviction added “stress and disruption” at an “already difficult time.”

Ryan and Bleahen did not attend the tribunal hearing. The tribunal noted there was “no evidence” to support the claim that their daughter ever occupied the property. It found an “ulterior motivation” behind the service of the eviction notice. The correspondence regarding the dog was dated “very shortly” before the tenants received the termination notice.

The tribunal report was published on Friday. It details the findings of the investigation and the final financial order against the landlords.