The Rent Tribunal was ordered by the High Court yesterday to pay some €5,817 damages to the owners of a Dublin house after the court found the owners had suffered the loss of a rent increase due to the tribunal's failure to follow fair procedures.
Mr Mark and Mr Walter Beatty own a premises at Newgrove Avenue, Sandymount, registered as a controlled dwelling under the housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Act 1982 and currently subject to a tenancy. In 1995, the rent was fixed by the tribunal at £300 per month.
In December 2000, the tribunal set the rent at £500 per month. In July 2001, the High Court quashed the tribunal's decision and gave the Beattys liberty to apply for damages.
It found the tribunal carried out an inspection of the house in the presence of the tenant but in the absence of the Beattys; that the tribunal gave insufficient time to the Beattys to respond to a valuation report furnished by the tenant and that the tribunal failed to give adequate reasons for its decision.
Following the quashing of the decision, the tribunal made a further determination in May 2002 and fixed the rent at €1,004 per month.
In a reserved judgment yesterday on the Beattys' claim for damages, Mr Justice O'Donovan said he was not aware of any policy whereby the tribunal was immune from claims for compensation arising from a want of care when making a decision and he doubted that the requirements of the common good demanded there should be such a policy.
Because the tribunal failed to take reasonable care to ensure that its decision accorded with principles of law, it was therefore liable to pay damages.