Landlord Marc Godart has paid out some €10,000 and costs of €2,460 to be shared by three former tenants who reported him over their illegal eviction.
Sarah Edwin was paid €4,000 and Manav Sarvaiya and Francesca Gubellini received €3,000 each from the businessman late last week in respect of a ruling by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) two years ago.
Mr Godart, whose address is listed as Sarsfield Road, Inchicore, Dublin, was due to appear before Dublin District Court on Monday to answer a summons over a failure to pay the money. However, it was received on Friday evening, according to the tenants’ solicitor, Eoghan McMahon of McGrath Mullan Solicitors.
The three tenants took a case to the RTB against Mr Godart arising out of a notice of eviction served on them in April 2022, taking effect on August 20th, 2022, when they were living at Reuben House, Reuben Street, Dublin 8. Mr Godart claimed he needed the property back to carry out renovations, but he actually used it as an Airbnb letting.
The three remained on in the property and said they were going to leave on September 1st, but Mr Godart removed all their belongings, cut off their electricity and changed the locks.
The three tenants challenged the legality of their eviction and their case was upheld by the RTB in January 2023, but Mr Godart had not previously paid out the money awarded to them by the board.
A Luxembourg native, Mr Godart has been the subject of a litany of court judgment arising out of his status as a landlord with multiple properties. There have been 10 related cases at the RTB.
In June 2023, the RTB awarded sums of €15,433.93 to Bolivian woman Lizet Pena-Herrera following her eviction from Reuben House.
Dublin City Council took enforcement proceedings in relation to Reuben House to stop it being used illegally for short-term letting.
In November, Dublin District Court judge Marie Quirke ordered Godart to pay €51,000 to former tenants illegally evicted from a property in October 2021.
An investigation by The Irish Times two years ago found Mr Godart was the director of 56 Irish companies
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