Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Fahim Ullah

Mark Cumberton

Act

Complaint Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 21 Equal Status Act, 2000

CA-00032605-001

28/11/2019

The complaint is made on the Housing Assistance (HAP) ground.

The complainant says that in January 2018 he sought to have his landlord accept HAP but he would not do so.

He says that the landlord refused to accept it up to April 15th 2019.

The respondent strongly denies that any discussion ever took place with the complainant about payment of rent involving HAP.

The complainant entered into a contract with him to rent the property without ever mentioning HAP.

The respondent also raises a preliminary objection that the complaint has not been made within the statutory time limits. The incident referred to by the complainant took place in January 2018.

The ES1 form was served on the respondent on October 3rd, 2109 and the referral to the WRC was on November 28th 2019, in both cases well outside the time limits specified in the Equal Status Act.

The complainant had made a complaint to the Residential Tenancies Board so did not lack competence in the preparation of a case and can therefore not rely on ignorance of the procedure.

The complainant was asked to offer an explanation for the delay and said that he was afraid that if he made a complaint that this might lead to his eviction.

The respondent submitted that the complainant demonstrated his competence to process an application by his referral to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) and represents confirmation that the complainant was aware of an obligation to make a complaint within statutory time limits.

In due course, the complainant was evicted in April 2019 and that became the subject of proceedings at the RTB which are not relevant here, although there must be a strong suspicion that the complainant was seeking a ‘second bite at the cherry’ with this referral.

He relied heavily on material which had already been addressed in the RTB Adjudication and which was not relevant to a complaint under the Equal Status Act.

The complainant did suggest on the complaint form that the refusal of the landlord to accept the payment occurred on other occasions after January 2018 and up to April 15th, 2019. He did not refer to this in the course of the hearing.

However, even this would not have brought the complaint, received by the WRC on November 28th 2019, within the statutory time limits, leaving aside the fact that there was nothing resembling evidence to support the complainant’s assertions that he offered HAP payments at any time.

I conclude that the complaint has not been made within the statutory time limits and is therefore not within jurisdiction.

For the reasons set out above complaint CA-00032605-001 is not well founded.

Time limits