Landlord who gave valid notice was entitled to evict tenants

Judgment delivered ex tempore on 6th February, 2017 - written judgment prepared from the DAR - appeal from order of the Circuit Court - plaintiff landlord is seeking to enforce, pursuant to s. 124 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2004, (“the Act”) a determination of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (“the P.R.T.B.”) dated the 26th January, 2016 - Circuit Court Judge granted the relief sought by the landlord and the tenants, who are the defendants, have brought the present appeal - defendants have been renting and living in the premises since 2005 - rent was originally €2,000 per month, but this was reduced to €1,600 per month in the year 2014 - plaintiff landlord wanted to live in the premises and wrote to the defendant tenants on the 23rd April, 2015, indicating that the premises would not be available for lease after the 30th September, 2015 - defendants referred the matter to the P.R.T.B. and an adjudicator was appointed to deal with it - by letter dated the 23rd October, 2015, the solicitors for the landlord served a further notice of termination, an earlier notice of termination being delivered on 11th August, 2015 - matter came for adjudication and agreement was signed which provided that: the tenants would vacate the premises on Friday 3rd June, 2016, which was some seven months later; that they would continue to pay the rent of €1,600 monthly until vacating the premises, less one month's rent in November, 2015; and that the landlord would refund the deposit of €2,000 on their exiting the premises, less any just deductions - there was a 21-day cooling off period and after that there was no appeal - defendants did not vacate the premises on the 3rd June, 2016 - a landlord is entitled to evict a tenant if he wishes to do so, provided he gives adequate and lawful notice - adjudicator did not have jurisdiction to deal with issue of damages - absence of legal representation did not render the proceedings fundamentally flawed - appeal refused.