Pensioners ‘illegally evicted’ from rented home, court told

Dublin pensioners Martin and Violet Coyne were "illegally" evicted from the house they had rented for 15 years, a court has been told.

Barrister Suzanne Boylan told the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that the Coynes’ eviction by the county sheriff yesterday morning had been “rough-handled”, as the couple had to leave the house without their possessions and clothes and money.

Ms Boylan said the sheriff had been in breach of a statutory provision of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009, which prohibits the seizure by the sheriff of a domestic tenancy.

The couple appeared in court in their nightclothes and without wearing shoes for contempt of court for failing to comply with orders to leave the house.

Counsel told Judge Raymond Fullam that Martin Coyne, 71, and his wife, Violet, 61, agreed that they had failed to comply with a series of orders to vacate the property at Carpenterstown, Co Dublin.

The court heard that they had difficulty finding another accommodation, as there was a shortage of properties available to rent in Dublin.

The couple had appeared last month before Judge Jacqueline Linnane, who had adjourned an application to commit both of the Coynes to jail to yesterday.

The court had heard that Darragh Ward, the house owner and the Coynes’ former landlord, who had a mortgage with ACC Bank, went into receivership in 2012.

The receiver, Shane McCarthy, had sought possession in order to sell the house to reduce Ward’s debt to the bank.

Barrister Stephen Byrne, counsel for the receiver, told Judge Fullam the Coynes had failed to surrender the house despite an undertakings to do so being given to the court.

Mr Byrne said the sheriff had evicted the Coynes this morning and the receiver was now in possession of the property. He said the Coynes were now legally represented and the matter, which had evolved, could be adjourned.

Ms Boylan said it had been agreed that two friends of the Coynes would last night “peaceably” remove the couple’s belongings from the property without the Coynes’ presence. The case was adjourned to October.