‘I’m admitting ignorance’ – UK-based landlord who notified tenants of rent hike over Facebook ordered to return €3,950

Landlord Patricia McElligott communicated with the tenants through text or Facebook, and she had never written any letters. Stock photo

A UK-based landlord who unlawfully hiked her tenants’ monthly rent by €375 told a tribunal hearing that she was “admitting ignorance” of Ireland’s rental laws.

Patricia McElligott was renting a house on Ballygologue Road, ­Listowel, Co Kerry, to two tenants between ­January 2019 and February this year.

The rent for the property was ­initially set at €700. In September 2022, she messaged the tenants on Facebook to say that she would be increasing it by €25 per month.

Less than two years later, after she employed an estate agent to hand

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