Courts

Developer Paddy Kelly’s wife fails in bid to overturn order to vacate Dublin 4 home

RTB had upheld as valid a notice of termination of tenancy served by Miracove on Maureen Kelly in June 2021, with a tenancy end date of January 2022

In a High Court judgment on Thursday, Mr Justice Conleth Bradley said the RTB was entitled to conclude Miracove intended to sell the property. Photograph: Aidan Crawley
In a High Court judgment on Thursday, Mr Justice Conleth Bradley said the RTB was entitled to conclude Miracove intended to sell the property. Photograph: Aidan Crawley
Paul Neilan
Thu Nov 28 2024 - 17:52

The wife of boomtime property developer Paddy Kelly has failed in her bid to overturn an order to vacate her Dublin 4 home.

In January, the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) made a determination against Maureen Kelly, who was renting a terraced house on Morehampton Road in Donnybrook, Dublin 4 from Miracove Holdings Ltd.

The RTB upheld a notice of termination of tenancy served by Miracove on Ms Kelly in June 2021, with a tenancy end date of January 2022. The board made further orders directing Ms Kelly to vacate the property within 42 days and to pay rent arrears of €60,000, which is the RTB’s jurisdictional limit.

Ms Kelly appealed the RTB’s decision on the grounds that it erred in law by finding that there was sufficient evidence to meet the statutory criteria for terminating a tenancy because the landlord intends to sell the property.

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Ms Kelly registered a lis pendens over the property, a notice that it is the subject of a pending legal challenge.

Miracove submitted it could not sell the property because it could not get vacant possession. The landlord said a lis pendens had to be disclosed to a potential buyer, making a sale more difficult.

Ms Kelly argued that directors of the landlord company who gave evidence at the RTB hearing were not in situ at the time of the termination and therefore did not have direct knowledge of the intention to sell the property within nine months of the termination.

She submitted that “the pertinent question was whether there was a bona fide intention to sell”.

The RTB found, “on the balance of probabilities”, that the landlord had the intention to enter into an enforceable agreement to sell the property within nine months of the January 2022 termination date.

The RTB said it was “not persuaded by the submission that as time passed and the property was not sold, the intention to sell has not been made out”.

In a High Court judgment on Thursday, Mr Justice Conleth Bradley said the RTB was entitled to conclude Miracove intended to sell the property.

Mr Justice Bradley said Miracove decided not to market the property until it was secured and vacant possession had been established.

He dismissed Ms Kelly’s appeal.