Fire safety notices were served last year on properties in city centre Dublin where controversial landlord Marc Godart has been renting out apartments with multiple beds in shared rooms.
Godart, who is from Luxembourg, has attracted controversy in recent times. He first came to prominence early last year when it emerged he had evicted about 45 tenants from apartments in Reuben House, Dublin 8, telling them he intended to sell the apartments, only for the tenants to discover that the apartments were available for short-term rent on property letting website Airbnb.
The controversial businessman invested in commercial and residential property in Ireland during the economic crash, using finance from family companies in his native Luxembourg.
Today, on the front doors of some properties he leases out, fire safety notices issued last year are still posted and visible to the public, warning that the buildings are unsafe.
In relation to one building leased by Godart’s property business, 11 Capel Street, Dublin 1, the notice was issued in June but rooms and beds were still rented out to tenants in the months after that date, according to a former tenant and records from the Godart business seen by The Irish Times.
When this newspaper visited the building recently, a tenant going into the building declined to be interviewed but confirmed he was renting a bed there.
The man was standing beside the front door on which an attached notice stated that the “potentially dangerous” building “is not to be used” until a list of alternations were made to the satisfaction of the fire authority, which is Dublin City Council.
Building materials could be seen lying against the wall in the hallway. The fire safety notice was directed at the upper floors of the three-story building, on the ground floor of which is a restaurant which is not covered by the notice.
Fire and smoke alarms, fire doors, fire-resistant separations between flats, alternative escape routes for any “inner rooms” being used as habitable rooms and a certified electrical system were among the alterations to be made prior to the building becoming habitable again, the notice said.
The alterations should ensure “every resident to be allocated space on a minimum figure of 5.5 square metres floor area of space per person,” it said.
Salvador Chavez Morales (39), a Mexican national living in Ireland, has shown The Irish Times an eviction notice he was served with dated July 29th telling him he had to vacate the room he was renting in one of the apartments at 11 Capel Street by August 5th.
Mr Morales said he had a “tiny” single room in the apartment for which he paid €650 per month and that he knows a man who is still living there.
“He’s there about six months, I guess. He’s sharing a room. I was there from about July 1st, until August 30th, so two months,” he said.
He said he shared the apartment on the top floor of the building with seven others, four of whom shared one room in which there were two bunk beds, and three of whom shared another room with one single bed and a bunk bed.
Fire safety notices are also currently displayed on three ground-floor units in adjacent developments on the corner of Beaver Street and Railway Street in Dublin 1, saying they should not be used pending the carrying out of a list of alterations.
The units are part of predominantly residential developments called the Forge and the Foundry that have commercial units on the ground floor.
The ground-floor units were purchased last year by one of Mr Godart’s companies, Green Label Property Investments, using funding from a company in Luxembourg, Hesper SA, which Mr Godart controls. Mr Godart is from Luxembourg.
The conditions on the fire safety notices include such matters as the installation of fire alarms and fire doors, but also that a fire safety notice be secured from the building control authority in relation to one unit “for the change of use of the premises to a residential building”.
On the door of another ground-floor unit, in a second notice dated October 12th, Dublin’s Chief Fire Officer, Dennis Keeley, draws attention to the June notification and states that unit is a “potentially dangerous building” and not to be used for residential purposes.
“You are advised to vacate this building immediately,” it says.
Records from Mr Godard’s letting operation seen by The Irish Times indicate that the properties on Beaver Street/Railway Street continued to be let after the fire notices were issued in June. The properties do not appear to be currently in use.
An email request to Mr Godart last week asking him to respond to the issues raised in this report has met with no response.
The building on Capel Street is owned by a Chinese businesswoman, Wenqin Chen, who said she leases the upper floors to one of Mr Godart’s companies. She said when the fire safety notice was served, she asked Mr Godart’s company to get his tenants to vacate the building. She said most of works to be carried out that are stipulated on the fire safety notice are nearing completion, and that she has no role in the short-term letting of the flats.
Dublin City Council confirmed that the fire safety notice in relation to 11 Capel Street was still in effect.
“Dublin Fire Brigade have made a number of attempts to gain access to the premises, to confirm if the works pertaining to the notice have been completed, however, to date we have not been able to gain access to the premises,” said the council.
The fire safety notice was served on Ms Chen and Capel Grand Inn Ltd, the council said, and it is “in the process of initiating prosecutions for noncompliance”. There are four apartments on the upper floors of the buildings, including shared rooms containing bunk beds, the internal records from the Godart business show.
Mr Godart and another of his companies, Green Label Short Lets Ltd, trading as Green Label Properties, have been the subject of 12 determinations from tribunals of the Residential Tenancies Board, in some instances leading to decisions that he pay sums of up to €10,000 or more to former tenants, for infringements such as unlawful termination of tenancies and unlawful interference with a tenant’s right to peaceful and exclusive occupation of the property.
The apartments in Capel Street as well as other properties in the city are let on a short-term basis on a website called roombookingsxl.com, where beds in a shared room are being offered from €11.16 per night, and a bed in a private room from €22.67 per night. The €11.16 per night accommodation is available only for stays of 30 nights, according to the website, which shows a low-ceilinged room with a number of bunk beds.
“Only one person is allowed per bed,” according to website.
“Energy saving is mandatory; this includes reducing shower times to maximum 10 minutes and not to open any windows while a heater is on during winter time,” says the website.
“Random checks will be made regularly without notice. The management reserves the right to enter shared rooms at all times for viewings or inspections.”
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