Apartment tenants in Dublin protest over management fees dispute

Updated: 1.15pm

Tenants of an apartment complex in Ballybrack, Dublin staged a protest on Monday morning amid an ongoing dispute over the building's management fees.

The protest took place at Ridge Hall, where 10 apartments are being impacted by the issue between a landlord and the complex's management company.

The landlord is alleged not to have paid management fees relating to the properties, resulting in the management company writing to tenants threatening to limit access to the building from 9am Monday morning.

According to Newstalk, the management company withdrew the warning on Sunday night, however, residents are concerned that no guarantees have been offered that it will not happen again and the landlord has been uncontactable.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, who is the area's local representative, described the matter as "utterly unacceptable" and has written to both the landlord and the management company asking them to resolve the issue.

"We have contacted the RTB (Residental Tenancies Board0 to say this is effectively a backdoor eviction. We've also contacted the council, because some of these tenants would be HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) tenenants, therefore in our view the council has a responsibility," Mr Boyd Barrett said.

"Also, the Government has a responsibility to have clear legislative, statutory protections for tenants, that no such threat will be levied against them when they have done nothing wrong and have paid their rent," he added.