Ms Sobanska said that she was making the award taking into account the financial hardship, stress, inconvenience and financial and emotional pressures suffered by the couple as a result of the landlord’s refusal to participate in the Housing Assistance Payment scheme (HAP).<\/p>\n
The landlord has 42 days in which to make the \u20ac14,000 payment to the couple.<\/p>\n
The couple had been requesting the landlord to allow them to pay rent allowance through (HAP) since May of last year where landlords must register to allow tenants participate in the scheme.<\/p>\n
In March of this year, the couple allege that they received a letter from their landlord with \u201cthere is your HAP\u201d written on the envelope.<\/p>\n
However, after opening the envelope the couple discovered that it was an eviction letter.<\/p>\n
The couple have four children aged 13, nine, six and two and had entered a long term rent deal of \u20ac950 per month in December 2015 with the landlord<\/p>\n
The couple were struggling to pay the rent and inquired with the landlord in May of last year about participating in HAP and he replied: \u201cWe can talk but it\u2019s most unlikely that I will be doing HAP\u201d.<\/p>\n
In January of this year, the couple sent on to the landlord correspondence from Threshold advising that \u201ca landlord must accept HAP and to refuse this is considered discrimination\u201d.<\/p>\n
After the \u2018termination\u2019 letter in March of this year, the landlord wrote to the couple to state that he did not refuse to facilitate the HAP assistance application but was not in a position to do so as a result of not having a Tax Clearance Certificate.<\/p>\n
He further stated that he has been attempting to rectify the situation and the request for HAP assistance \u201chas absolutely nothing to do with ending your tenancy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the case, the couple gave examples of the consequent financial hardship and detriment suffered which compromised their quality of life as a family.<\/p>\n
The couple secured a new accommodation from July 9 last. The agreed rent is \u20ac1,150 and they secured HAP assistance of \u20ac858 as of August 13, 2018.<\/p>\n
They said that due to time constraints and the challenging circumstances of the property market they had to downgrade to an apartment, and submitted that this is not an ideal situation with four kids and a dog.<\/p>\n
They were also not in a position to move garden furniture and children\u2019s play equipment – such as trampoline, slides etc. – which were acquired bearing in mind the originally agreed long-term tenancy arrangement.<\/p>\n
The couple said that as they were unable to get HAP for their previous home, they had to meet the shortfall with loans.<\/p>\n
Director of Advocacy with Focus Ireland, Mike Allen said today that it welcomes the decision of the WRC in the two cases and the scale of the order against the landlord.<\/p>\n
Mr Allen said however that while level of the penalty is high, \u201cit does not recompense the family for the loss of their family home\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe judgement is particularly welcome because it shows that the WRC will not accept secondary issues \u2013 such as failure to have a tax clearance cert \u2013 as an excuse for not accepting HAP tenants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis judgement shows that not having your own taxes in order is not an acceptable reason for discriminating against low-income families who need HAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the case, Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) Adjudication Officer, Ewa Sobanska said that she was ordering the landlord to pay \u20ac7,000 to each parent in the case as she found the discrimination \u201cto be at the more serious end of the scale\u201d. Ms Sobanska said that she was making the award taking into account the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1614,"featured_media":44886,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9350],"tags":[9571,13200],"class_list":["post-44885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","tag-social","tag-stoimost-nedvizhimosti"],"yoast_head":"\n