Solicitor landlord agrees not to contact former tenant following High Court settlement

High Court reporters

Associates of a practising solicitor have agreed not to contact the lawyer's former tenant following their settlement of a dispute in which it was alleged the landlord had engaged in an unlawful eviction of a family.

The High Court heard today that a consultant associated with the landlord, Imtiaz Khan, had sent a WhatsApp message to Mr Khan's former tenant, Muhammad Amjad. The consultant told the court in an affidavit that the message was sent in a personal capacity and had "no connection whatsoever" to the case.

However, lawyers for Mr Khan agreed to an undertaking that there would be no direct or indirect contact with Mr Amjad by any party, family member or associate of the solicitor or his firm.

The court also heard today that Mr Khan's firm had removed photographs from their website as a result of "adverse publicity" arising from the case that led to online commentary by the Irish Freedom Party.

Mr Khan, a solicitor and principal of Dublin-based IMK Law, has submitted to the court he went to the plaintiff's rental property on Main Street Ongar Village, in West Dublin last February, for a “peaceful and voluntary handover” of the property.

Mr Amjad, a father of six, represented by RNL Solicitors, alleged Mr Khan arrived at the rental property in a “threatening” manner accompanied by eight other individuals and carrying a hammer. He alleged that Mr Khan passed the hammer to another man before striking him with his hand. Mr Khan denied the claim.

Last week, Mr Justice Micheál O'Connell said “sanity” had broken out when informed that Mr Amjad had settled his dispute with Mr Khan, who denied any wrongdoing.

The case was taken by Mr Amjad against Mr Khan and his property company IMK Property Investment Ltd over an allegedly unlawful eviction action.

Mr Khan submitted that in February 2025, Fingal County Council found the property was not compliant with regulations. He said the tenants, living there since 2013, were properly served with a notice of lease termination and there was no “coercive or intimidatory campaign”, as alleged by Mr Amjad.

Mr Khan’s barrister, Alan Cormack SC, had submitted his client’s primary concern on the day in question was the “safety and welfare” of Mr Amjad’s children and other residents of the complex. He said the property was in need of "extensive repairs" and IMK Property determined the tenancy should be terminated so the work could be carried out safely.

Ercus Stewart SC, with David O'Brien BL, said that his client had wished any lease termination regarding his family should be done “properly”. He said he immediately contacted rental watchdog Threshold and Fingal County Council about what he alleged was an unlawful eviction.

The plaintiff's side, after the settlement agreement last week, raised concerns this week over possible “interference” to the settlement and the matter returned to the High Court.

It was accepted by the respondents that employment and recruitment specialist Kamal Shah, Ongar, Dublin 15, sent the plaintiff a WhatsApp message on last Tuesday. However, they said the message was sent in a personal capacity as a neighbour and a social acquaintance, with "no connection whatsoever" to the case.

Mr Shah submits in his affidavit that he provides his specialist consultancy services to IMK Law, among others, but is self-employed, is an independent external contractor and has never been an employee of IMK.

He says that he was "never instructed, requested, encouraged or authorised by Imtiaz Khan, IMK Law, IMK Property Investment Limited or any person acting on their behalf to contact the Plaintiff concerning these proceedings or any matter arising from them".

He submits that he extended a purely social invitation for a 20-minute talk.

The text to the plaintiff, which was sent in Urdu, translates to “Hi brother, how are you? Brother if you are available we can talk for 20 minutes”.

The WhatsApp communication sent to the plaintiff this week was "entirely consistent with the nature of previous communications in 2024", when Mr Shah was an unelected independent candidate in the local elections in Lucan, Dublin, he submits.

Mr Stewart, instructed by Reza Nezam of RNL, questioned why Mr Shah's profile and photo as a consultant had been removed from the IMK website since Tuesday when it was previously “all over it”.

Mr Cormack said it had been removed due to "adverse publicity" leading to online "commentary by the Irish Freedom Party" and that other photos had been removed from the site.

Mr Justice O'Connell accepted an undertaking by Mr Cormack for non-contact between any party, family member or associate, either directly or indirectly and adjourned the matter to October.