The controversial landlord and letting agent Marc Godart is still letting rooms in a house in Dublin he told the High Court his company ceased letting rooms in two years ago, The Irish Times has established.
In an affidavit to the High Court in February the Luxembourg-based businessman said his company, Green Label Short Lets, could not pay a debt to a former tenant who was illegally evicted from the house because the company has ceased trading and had no money.
However, The Irish Times has established that Mr Godart is still renting out rooms in the house in Vintage Court, Cork Street, Dublin 8, using the identity of a foreign student in his early 20s who is being allowed to stay for free in a room in the four-bed house.
The student, who would not comment when contacted, has allowed his name to be used with platforms such as Booking.com and Airbnb, with the platforms paying income from the letting of the rooms into the student’s Irish bank account, according to sources.
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The money is then being transferred by the student to an account in Luxembourg, according to the sources.
[ Luxembourg landlord Marc Godart renting beds to refugees in premises without fire certificate ]
Mr Godart has a holding company in Luxembourg, Itzig Sarl, that in turn owns the Irish companies associated with his property operations here.
In May Judge Brian Cregan in the High Court decided he would order Mr Godart to appear before him to answer questions on oath about Green Label Short Lets Ltd, saying he was not convinced the businessman was giving the “full truth” in his affidavit evidence. A date for Mr Godart’s appearance has not yet been set. A request for a comment from Mr Godart was met with no response.
A former tenant in the house, Lizet Pena-Herrera, who was illegally evicted in 2022, secured compensation awards totalling €15,000 from the Residential Tenancies Board against Green Label Short Lets but the money was not paid.
She secured a District Court order and when the debt still remained unpaid took Green Label to the High Court to have Mr Godart, the sole director of the company, explain why.
Mr Godart told the court on affidavit his company ceased operations in 2022. Now The Irish Times has established that rooms with a double bed in the house are still being advertised on Airbnb and Booking.com for between €118 and €129 per night. The most recent review on Booking.com is from April 15th.
Mr Godart is involved in the letting of his own and other people’s property. The Vintage Court house is owned by a woman in Co Wexford who, the High Court has been told, has no connection with Mr Godart. Contacted by The Irish Times, the woman said she rented the house two or three years ago via a Dublin estate agent and the house, as far as she was concerned, continues to be rented to this same person or entity. There have been no problems to date in relation to her being paid, she said.
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