Former Cork lord mayor adhered to RTB ruling he 'strongly' disagreed with

Former lord mayor of Cork, Cllr Colm Kelleher, stressed to the Irish Examiner that he and his brother have complied with the ruling of the board — even if they disagree with it.

Cllr Colm Kelleher: 'The property was returned to me in disrepair and a substantial amount of money was spent to bring that property back to its previous condition. Picture: Alison Miles /OSM 

Former lord mayor of Cork, Cllr Colm Kelleher, has indicated he has adhered to a ruling made by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) that €150 in damages and a deposit of €960 be paid to a former tenant of a property he co-owns with his brother Seamus.

Colm Tierney, his wife Siobhan and their family lived in a rental property in Mallow, Co Cork, for five years.

They successfully took a case with the RTB earlier this year to get their deposit back, having told the watchdog they had made multiple failed attempts to obtain the funds from Colm Kelleher.

Cllr Kelleher stressed to the Irish Examiner that he and his brother have complied with the ruling of the board — even if they disagree with it.

“It was ruled in his [Tierney’s] favour and the deposit was returned in full. I strongly disagree with it but it was adhered to.

"The property was returned to me in disrepair and a substantial amount of money was spent to bring that property back to its previous condition.

"The matter has been dealt with by the RTB and as far as I am concerned that is it.” 

Meanwhile, Mr Tierney told the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s Red FM, that the withholding of deposits needs to be examined more closely.

“Questions need to be answered about landlords in general unlawfully and without valid reason holding on to deposits. We weren’t under pressure for that deposit but if that was a single mother of three in that house?” 

Mr Tierney said he had expected the return of the deposit to be straightforward and that instead they were allegedly accused of stealing and causing damage to the property. He said when they were leaving, Colm Kelleher told them once the house was inspected they should receive their deposit back within two to three days.

“About a week passed I contacted him [Colm Kelleher] because he had not contacted me.

"The conversation ended up being a bit of a shouting match at the end of it. Basically accusing us of leaving the house in a disgraceful condition. Of robbing property.” 

Mr Tierney claimed Colm Kelleher used excuses not to pay them back their deposit, including saying that a broken fridge and sofa were missing from the house.

He claimed Mr Kelleher had previously told him he would be doing them a favour by storing the items in a unit he owns until he had time to pick them up.

“You fast forward to where we were looking for our deposit back. He [Colm Kelleher]) then used the fact that we had his broken fridge and his broken couch [to withhold the deposit]. “ 

Mr Tierney said  they had attempted to contact both Kelleher brothers to return the broken items but received no reply.

He added that if Colm Kelleher was so certain of his facts he should have appeared at the RTB hearing.

“He [Mr Kelleher] did not turn up. The hearing was the adjudicator, myself, and my wife.

He [the adjudicator] turned around and said ‘they submitted nothing’. And then he awarded the determination order in our favour.”