An overholding tenant has been ordered to vacate a property in Co Limerick after a Residential Tenancies Board tribunal heard her landlord required the property for his sister’s family, who were living in a caravan in his garden.Landlord Cornelius Quilligan was previously ordered to pay €2,000 in damages to his tenant, Joanne Hogan, after he entered the property in Rathkeale in August 2023 and changed the locks.Quilligan had also “drilled the windows shut” and put Hogan’s belongings in bags, after he had “gotten angry” about the condition of the property, he said.Describing how he treated Hogan as “very poor”, the tribunal fined him for attempting to carry out an illegal eviction, with his actions being “only slightly mitigated” by the fact Hogan was allowed to re-enter the home.Quilligan subsequently issued a notice of termination in February 2024, which resulted in another dispute being lodged with the rental watchdog.The landlord told a new tribunal hearing that he required the property for his sister, who had been living in a “small caravan” with her husband and four children in his garden.Quilligan said his sister’s family was using his water, toilets and electricity, adding that they had “no privacy and no bedrooms”.He added that Hogan had not paid the top up to her rent since July 2023, saying he was “out of pocket from then”.Despite the notice being issued in February 2024, Hogan still occupied the property by the time of the hearing in November 2025, according to a tribunal report published on Friday.Timothy Hogan, a witness for the tenant, alleged it was “complete lies” that Quilligan’s sister required the home, claiming her husband owned “a number of properties”.He further claimed Quilligan failed to comply with the previous order to pay damages, which also included a further €3,000 for failing to carry out necessary repairs for the tenant.Quilligan accepted that his sister’s husband owned a property, but it was derelict and had “no sewerage or ESB or water”.The tribunal said it was satisfied that Quilligan required the property, saying his sister “cannot continue to live in a caravan indefinitely”.Noting that Hogan had been overholding, it said it “cannot be blind to the general nature of the rental property market” and the “potential difficulties” in securing alternative accommodation.However, it said the matter could not be “delayed indefinitely” and ordered Hogan to vacate within 28 days.It also found her to be in rent arrears of €3,969 and ordered her to pay the sum in 12 monthly instalments.In a separate case, a mother who was overholding for 16 months after her landlord wished to sell the property in Ballina, Co Tipperary, was also ordered to vacate.Her landlord, John Lyons, said he was selling the property as it was held in a “pension structure” that was due to be wound up, saying the overholding had “cost him money”.Tenant Liz Carroll told a tribunal she accepted she was overholding, but it was “not out of bad faith”.She said she was unable to secure alternative accommodation, despite being in contact with local estate agents and politicians.There was “effectively nothing” available to rent in the area, she said, and when properties did arise, the rents were about €2,500, which she could not afford.She said her personal circumstances made it an “especially difficult” year to move, given that one of her children was due to sit the Leaving Certificate.The tribunal acknowledged the “particular difficulty posed by current rental market conditions”, though it noted Carroll had been overholding for more than a year and ordered her to vacate within 28 days.