The High Court has directed Marc Godart, a director of Green Label Short Lets Limited, to appear at a date to be fixed and give evidence under oath about the company’s finances and how it can satisfy an unpaid District Court judgment. The court also ordered that the judgment creditor may inspect the company’s books and records, with the terms of that inspection still to be settled.
The application was brought by Lizet Peña-Herrera, who obtained a District Court judgment against the company after two Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) determinations went unpaid. The judgment, made on 2 June 2023, was for €15,433.50 plus costs. An attempted execution by the Sheriff was returned marked “nulla bona”.
Peña-Herrera’s evidence was that she rented a Dublin 8 property from the company and complained to Dublin City Council about health and safety issues. She said the company served her with a termination notice shortly after an inspection, then removed her belongings while she was at work. The RTB found the notice was an act of penalisation and later directed the company to pay compensation over the eviction and retention of her deposit. The company did not appeal those determinations. The High Court described the affidavit evidence on the underlying events as uncontested.
The company’s director, Godart, told the court that the company operated as a letting agent, had no assets apart from its earnings, and that its operations had effectively ceased. The judge was not satisfied that Godart’s affidavits gave the full truth. He raised questions about who owned the rented property and how the company could have entered the tenancy agreement if it acted only as an agent. The judgment records differing statements by Godart about whether the company was the landlord and whether it owned the property.
The court held that section 567 of the Companies Act 2014 applied because the judgment remained unsatisfied and the company was unable to pay its debts. That allowed specified company law provisions to apply even though the company was not in liquidation. The judge said the creditor herself could not apply to summon officers under section 671, but exercised the court’s own-motion power to summon Godart and require relevant company records.
The court deferred the creditor’s applications under sections 612 and 672 as premature, pending further developments. It also ruled that Order 42, rule 36 could not be used to enforce a District Court judgment in the High Court. The parties are to be heard further on the precise inspection and examination orders and on costs.