Judge Judy rules that might stop late night parties in Galway

Date Published: {J}

I know that in the recent past some of my few fans have expressed concern about any apparent growing familiarity with what one might term ‘afternoon TV’. A mention seems to conjure up images of a figure slumped on a couch, with all purpose in life gone, watching Christmas cake recipes.

It’s quite possible that terminal torpor might hit, especially when weeks of torrential rain are replaced by weeks of footpaths and roads which make ‘dancing on ice’ seem like something that anyone should have a crack at . . . though maybe not recommended for the senior citizens.

Any number of reports of people turning up in A&E with strained or damaged wrists, tell their own story of upsets and tumbles . . . inching along by the walls and railings of the city on day after day, I saw many a tumble that looked very painful indeed, as men and women picked themselves up, gingerly finding out, joint by joint, if everything was still functioning.

Ever fallen and landed on your ‘tail-bone’? Then you know what I mean.

Faced with that kind of hazard, even the perils of ‘couch afternoon TV’ seemed preferable, and, once again, I ended up watching Judge Judy – despite the reservations of friends who are beginning to wonder about a man in his sixties who will spend an afternoon hour watching a very strict woman who dresses all in black, and wears ‘killer heels ‘and a cloak!

In the past I have pointed out that Judge Judy illustrates how the US civil justice system actually seems to function for the purposes for which it was created. For instance, in their civil justice system, fathers have to pay support for their children, even if they have set up new relationships. And they will be pursued for payment. Equally importantly, the system seems equipped to track them down, and does so.

At least two recent episodes have shown Judge Judy demanding a driving licence from a recalcitrant father, and then pass the licence on to the mother of his children. The driving licence would appear to be a much more important document in the US than it is here – I have repeatedly heard that ‘woman in black’ on the bench make the point that, if the father wants to work in future, then he will have to cough-up the child support on the basis of the mum now having the driving licence, which will make him easy to trace.

But, in light of the recent trouble in Galway, with difficulties in rented accommodation, all-night parties, and night-time incidents in suburbia caused by student parties, maybe someone in charge of the Irish civil legal system should be looking at how the law in relation to landlords and tenants appears to function in the US.

Last week, for instance, there was a case on Judge Judy taken by a woman landlord against a student tenant who had breached the tenancy agreement by holding a number of loud, late-night parties, keeping a dog, and generally making something of a thoroughgoing nuisance of herself in an area where, plainly, they valued their privacy and quiet.

The landlord produced a series of accounts showing that, every time a party was held in the condominium, there was a ‘fine’ imposed on the 20 year old tenant; there were also two ‘fines’ on the accounts for breaching the rules on having a dog on the premises, despite a rule to the contrary, and fines for the cops being called out.

I’m sure there are all kinds of terms and conditions in relation to tenancies by students all over Galway City, but how often do you hear of low-cost legal cases being possible under which a landlord demands –and may get – the payment of fines which are imposed for nonsense like all-night parties in predominantly residential areas?

Quite the opposite often appears to be the outcome, in fact: the residents who have invested their life savings – and future earnings – in an expensive mortgage for an apartment home in which they had hoped to live out their days, end up tormented night after night.

From recent reports in this newspaper, some of the house owners have even had to consider moving out because life has become intolerable through noise, parties and trouble. The selfsame bloody troublesome tenants often have the effect of making life intolerable in apartment developments.

A lot of those empty apartments in Galway City – and around the country – might be a lot more saleable if the potential tenants knew that they would not have ‘neighbours from hell’ living above or below.

Of course, many of the selfsame student ‘nuisance neighbours’ move on a few years later to become the new professional classes, who demand their privacy in huge expensive houses – detached of course because they value their privacy!

However, there was one further twist in the story of this particular Judge Judy programme . . . because of the fact that the 20 years old tenant had not paid the fines imposed for having a dog, the police call outs, and the late night parties, the fines were levied instead on the landlord, who, as part of the action, was, in turn, suing the tenant for non-payment.

So, under the law, if the tenant is difficult and does not pay, then the landlord is responsible for the charges which are levied by the management company which runs the development.

Compare this with Galway. I have knowledge of a case of parents with one child who were in an apartment and complained that they could not get any sleep because of noisy tenants. The landlord said he would do something about it . . . but when they complained again, he gave them notice to vacate the apartment, describing them as troublemakers. I’m sure they could have fought it, but they left anyway, in disgust!