Also known as: Sansovino Property Co Ltd, Morston Property Co Ltd, Teenoso Property Co Ltd, Durbar Property Co Ltd and 127 other companies.
Linked to at least 131 Irish companies and many more in the UK, British Virgin Islands and Bahamas
Brothers Luke and Brian Comer are originally plasterers from Glenamaddy Co. Galway. Along with Luke's sons Barry and Luke Jr, they now run a huge international property company that owns property in the UK, Germany, Greece and Ireland.
After making their fortune in the UK property market in the 1990s and 2000s, the Comer Brothers returned to Ireland after the 2008 crash and bought up swathes of distressed properties and land. One newspaper estimates that they spent about €1 billion during this scavenger hunt: “They were spending cash when nobody had cash”.
They own properties across the Republic of Ireland, in counties Kildare, Kerry, Donegal, Westmeath, Laois, Wicklow, Offaly, Cavan, across Co. Dublin and Co. Galway with particularly large portfolios in Dublin and Galway cities.
Many of these properties are residential. They have over 1600 registered tenancies, with one of their property managers once stating that he "looks after 2,000 apartments".
Report of Tribunal Reference No: TR0419-003708 / Case Ref No: 0319-53215 - RTB
They also own at least 6 hotels and 3 stud farms. Luke Comer in particular is a big fan of horses and horseracing - many of their subsidiary companies are named after famous racehorses. They are also the primary owners of Galway United FC.
Comer nags planners over Kilternan - The Sunday Times (archive version)
Billionaire property developers have takeover of Galway United accepted - The 42
Most of their Irish property development is funded by Deutsche Bank loans, via a number of offshore holding companies in the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.
Their buildings are very varied: from apartments in Tallaght with leaks and serious mold issues, to the newly-built Number 1 Ballsbridge: “the most prestigious and best rental accommodation ever offered to the Dublin Market” where the lowest-rent apartments are €4000 per month).
Report of Tribunal Reference No: TR0518-002958 / Case Ref No: 0118-40344 - RTB
Report of Tribunal Reference No: TR0121-004631 / Case Ref No: 0820-64046 - RTB
5 RTB cases have been taken against various Comer Group companies (they own properties through at least 70 separate companies). There have been 29 cases relating to evictions (including cases relating to overholding and deposit retention). The RTB has ruled 8 of these evictions were invalid in some way. The most frequent reason tenants have taken RTB cases against them is for "breach of landlord obligations" - usually to do with maintenance.
Keeping over 2000 apartments well-maintained does seem to take up an awful lot of the Comer Group’s time.
Some tenants report being left for months and having to repeatedly send emails asking for problems like leaky ceilings and mould to be dealt with.
Report of Tribunal Reference No: TR0121-004631 / Case Ref No: 0820-64046 - RTB
In one particularly extreme case, a tenant had a severe leak in the ceiling of her bedroom that damaged her mattress and bedding, which meant she and her newborn baby had to sleep in the sitting room for four months. She notified the landlord about this and then was left waiting for four months before the leak was repaired:
"There was also another leak in the bathroom which was worrying because the water was coming down through the light fixtures. The water came in every time it rained."
After waiting several weeks for these issues to be fixed, the tenant complained via email. The landlords' agent replied saying they didn't like her tone, and "that she would no longer be entitled to communicate with the agent by phone or email, but would instead be required to communicate only by registered letter. The email concludes “any other form of communication from you will be ignored".
Shortly afterwards they "sent her an anti-social behaviour notice… when she tried to get him to carry out the necessary works".
Thankfully, the RTB ruled in this tenants favour:
"the Tenant was simply trying to seek her entitlement to a proper living environment… an anti-social behaviour notice was issued to the Tenant… this was meant to convey to the Tenant that her tenancy was in jeopardy. This can only have been a source of extreme anxiety and concern for the Tenant, and was clearly calculated to prevent her from insisting further that the necessary repairs would be carried out."
Unusually the RTB ruling directly referred to the fact that the current housing crisis means landlords such as the Comer brothers can exploit their tenants fears about being evicted if they complain about any aspect of their tenancy:
“The reality of the current housing situation is one which causes tenants in general to feel unease and to be hesitant about raising issues with their Landlords, lest they place their tenancy in jeopardy. The Tenant in this case is a young woman who was at the time on maternity leave, with an infant child to care for. The Tribunal regards the breach of landlord obligations as constituting a serious interference with the Tenant’s occupation of the dwelling."
Report of Tribunal Reference No: TR0518-002958 / Case Ref No: 0118-40344 - RTB
On top of their roughly 2000 apartments, the Comer brothers’ property empire includes hotels, shopping centres, office buildings and casinos in Germany, Greece and the UK. In Ireland, they have petrol stations, stud farms, development land, derelict hotels, functional hotels, a sports and leisure complex, industrial estates and shopping centres.
Their holdings include many derelict, unused buildings, including the 14 storey Sentinel Building in Sandyford, Dublin, which has been left half-built and unused for over 10 years. As described in The Times the Comer brothers own “a portfolio of appalling eyesores”. Despite this record of land hoarding and speculation the Comers hypocritically claim they are part of the solution to the housing crisis because these sites might one day, no doubt when the price is right, be developed for housing.
They are also involved with the construction of social housing units for approved housing bodies (AHBs), having recently developed Tir an Choir housing estate at Vicarschoral, Tuam, Co. Galway on land they bought on the cheap in 2010. They have since sold the land and properties to Co-operative Housing Ireland, who provide a form of social housing. But it's unknown how much they made from this sale.
New homes will aid completion of unfinished Tuam estate - Tuam Herald