Landlord whose tenant caused ‘stress’ to heart attack victim must pay €10,000

A woman who said she suffered a heart attack due to the stress she allegedly suffered from a tenant in Co Longford has been awarded €10,000 in damages, after a landlord failed to adequately deal with repeated complaints.Janine Maria Bernardi told a Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) tribunal she spent three weeks in hospital in March 2024 “as a result of stress endured” from Linas Zaluda’s tenant.Bernardi bought her apartment in Prospect Wood, Longford, in 2023, saying after she moved in, she heard frequent noise as though someone had “taken a hammer and was intentionally banging on the floor above”.She also alleged the tenant living above her reacted “very aggressively” when she asked her to stop smoking outside her window. Bernardi claimed the woman, who is not named in a tribunal report published this week, subsequently used “vulgar, obscene language and gestures” towards her in common areas.She ultimately complained to gardaí and Zaluda’s agent, Chazey Properties.Less than a month later, she alleged someone knocked on her door and subsequently “pushed” it into her, cutting and bruising her face, saying they “ran upstairs” after.She reported the alleged incident to gardaí and contacted Zaluda, who told her if he was in her shoes, he would sell the apartment. “It is your life, good luck,” he told her.The noise, smoking and “abuse” continued over the following months, Bernardi claimed, adding that the tenant “frequently obstructed” her in common areas and made “threatening gestures”.Bernardi told the tribunal that after she returned from the hospital following a heart attack, the noise was “so bad” that she called gardaí, claiming that the tenant kicked and damaged her apartment door afterwards.On one occasion in August 2024, she alleged that she was grabbed from behind while opening her door, forced inside and thrown on to her apartment floor, saying her mother was “screaming”.Bernardi said the woman was arrested and legal proceedings were ongoing.After telling him of the alleged assault, Zaluda issued a notice of termination, giving seven days to vacate, though the tenant did not leave.Bernardi said the landlord issued a second notice in May 2025, on the basis that his family member required the property, and gave the tenant 10 months to vacate.The tenant continued to live in the apartment by the hearing in April this year, Bernardi said, claiming the noise and “vulgar abuse” had not stopped “but have got worse”.Bernardi, who said she was “intimidated and anxious” when leaving or entering her home, argued that no effective action had been taken by Zaluda throughout the years, noting she sent him over 20 emails and recordings and videos.Zaluda told the tribunal it was his first time with “these problems” and “did not know the process”.He said issues arose once Bernardi moved into her apartment in 2023, and claimed his tenant was angry because she was “filming her children”.Asked by the tribunal whether he believed his comment to Bernardi, in which he said, “It is your life, good luck”, was appropriate, Zaluda responded that he had spoken to the tenant “many times”.The tribunal accepted that his tenant engaged in antisocial behaviour on a “persistent basis”, which interfered “quite significantly” with Bernardi’s peaceful occupation of her home.It said Zaluda “failed entirely” to enforce the obligations of his tenant, saying while he issued two notices of termination, he took “no steps to enforce either”.Noting that Bernardi was “made to feel intimidated and threatened in her own home and estate for almost three years”, the tribunal ordered Zaluda to pay €10,000 in damages within 28 days.

Raccontata dairishtimes.com