With third level colleges due to reopen over the coming weeks, Alex Hoffman of Pierse McCarthy Lucey Solicitors takes a look at the recent “Covid Party House” case and considers what it means for landlords… 

The case concerned two properties at Connaught Avenue and Highfield Road, both belonging to the same individual and both within a stone’s throw of University College Cork.

At the end of the academic term each year, houses around UCC are vacated as students return home for the summer and they are often replaced in those houses by young people looking to take up jobs in the city for the summer months.

This year was slightly different however. Unable to travel to the US on J1s, the young people still came but there were no jobs for them due to the lockdown.

Continued below…

As the proverb goes, “the devil makes work for idle hands” and according to evidence given by local residents the normally quiet residential area quickly became “like Beirut”.

They said parties attended by upwards of 50 people happened on an almost daily basis and often continued until four or five in the morning, leading to one of the houses being dubbed “Covid Party House” and the other “Party Central”.

While residents in the area have grown accustomed to such behaviour, which would tend to flare up at certain intervals during the year such as Freshers’ Week and Rag Week, the level and intensity of the aggression and anti-social behaviour shown by the occupants of the houses and those attending the regular all-night parties, brought the matter to a whole new level, according to residents.

Despite calls on the landlord of the two properties to stop the behaviour, and even protests outside his home by residents which were widely reported in the media, the parties continued unabated.

The Gardai also appeared powerless to bring the matter under control and accordingly the residents decided to take matters into their own hands and took a case in Cork District Court seeking an order against a landlord under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 for allowing breaches of noise levels.

After hearing evidence from the residents, the writing was on the wall for the landlord and he finally issued warnings to the tenants in both houses and installed noise monitors and CCTV cameras in a belated effort to curb the behaviour.

He even agreed to pay the costs of the residents in bringing the case. But it was considered to be too little, too late and Judge Olann Kelleher found the landlord to be responsible for the noise pollution emanating from his properties.

He now faces the prospect of a €1,000 fine or 12 months in prison if there is any breach of the noise protection order.

While decisions made at District Court level don’t often set a precedent, the case is significant for a number of reasons.

It acts as a reminder to landlords that they cannot simply shrug their shoulders or turn a blind eye to anti-social behaviour by tenants or occupiers of their properties.

Even though it should go without saying, Section 16(h) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 provides that tenants shall “not behave within the dwelling, or in the vicinity of it, in a way that is anti-social or allow other occupiers of, or visitors to, the dwelling to behave within it, or in the vicinity of it, in such a way”.

Most residential leases will contain a similar covenant and while it was of course the tenants and their guests who were the ones engaging in the rowdy and anti-social behaviour, landlords have a responsibility to ensure that their tenants comply with their obligations.

It must also be noted that the proceedings which were brought against the landlord were not criminal charges arising from complaints made to the Gardai, but were rather private prosecutions brought for noise pollution under the Environment Agency Protection Act 1992.

It was certainly a novel approach and one which I am sure will be repeated by residents associations across the country. Landlords beware!

• The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice.

No liability whatsoever is accepted by Pierse McCarthy Lucey for any action taken in reliance on the information contained in this article.