‘A lot of landlords think they can walk all over you’

Orla Smith is still waiting for the return of her €650 deposit, more than two years after she left a property in which mould was ruining her clothes.

The 32-year-old from Rathfarnham in Dublin is studying to become a music teacher at IT Dundalk and first moved to the Louth town in summer 2010 with her boyfriend.

They moved into the property — and then quickly moved out again when the scale of the mould became apparent.