A council tenant in the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD) has said they will not pay €7,000 in backdated rent as the bill was issued erroneously.
Raising the case at the September meeting of the NRMD, Councillor John Dwyer said the case in question began when the tenant’s partner moved into the property three years ago.
“They declared they had a partner living with them and, three years later, the council decided to send out a Permission to Reside statement,” he said. “The partner was then given permission to reside, but the council then said, as the person was living there for three years previously, they were going to send them a bill for €7,000.”
According to the Wexford County Council (WCC) website if a housing tenant has someone move into the property then written permission is required and a Permission to Reside form should be submitted.
However, despite housing officer Martina Donoghue’s insistence that a form had been sent out to the tenant (three years ago), Cllr Dwyer said the tenant had proven that no such form had been received.
“They submitted a Freedom of Information request (FOI) to the council and discovered that no such form was sent out for three years. They have all that information under FOI,” he said. “This is not going away, it’s an unfair penalisation of a tenant. They are not going to pay rent that should have only been charged from the day they filled out the form.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.