Ms Janette Fogarty:

We would get cases for breach of obligations. Landlords and tenants have rights and obligations. Some of the cases for breach of obligations would be in standards and maintenance, for example, that the landlord may not have carried out repairs and replacements. In that regard, our decision makers have the discretion to award damages if there is a breach of obligations. We have seen cases for damp and mould and failure to carry out repairs and replacements. The average award given would be about €1,000, with the maximum of about €7,000 having been awarded to tenants in certain cases where there was a breach of obligations to carry out the repairs and replacements. They would range from damp and mould to not fixing the cooker, etc., to not complying with minimum standards.