A COUPLE who did not know when buying a house for €260,000 that it was designated a holiday home have sued the solicitor who handled the deal.
Andrew Flynn and Mary Keane Flynn are seeking damages, including a refund, to make up for the loss suffered in the value of the house at Kiltoom, Co Roscommon.
They claim the property is now worth only €75,000-€90,000.
The couple, when buying the house in 2005, intended to “turn it over” and sell it on within a few years to finance the building of a new family home, the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, was told.
The case is a test case and the owners of seven other houses in the development at Newpark Village, Kiltoom, are also taking legal action.
The couple, of Clontuskert, Lanesborough, Co Roscommon, have sued solicitor Cormac Lohan of Lohan Co Solicitors, with a business address at Fairview, Garden Vale, Athlone, in relation to the sale of No 6, Newpark Village.
The court heard liability was admitted and the case was for assessment of damages only.
The Flynns, Mr Justice Kearns was told, had rejected an open offer of €100,000, plus costs, in settlement of the case.
Opening the case, Patrick Keane SC, for the couple, said there was a fatal flaw in the title of the property as it was limited to use as a holiday home. It was the intention of Mr Flynn, a carpenter, to do up the house and sell it on in 1½ years, counsel said.
It was the Flynns’ case that had they known of the planning permission condition requiring the houses be used as holiday lets only, they would not have purchased. The area was “not particularly scenic”, he added.
One of the homeowners had in 2010 succeeded in having the planning permission for the houses in the development changed to residential, subject to 17 conditions, including one requiring the developer pay out over €48,000, the court heard. The owners of the eight houses would have to pay that money, it was stated.
In evidence, Mary Keane Flynn, a former bank official with ACC, said she heard about the development from a colleague. She and her husband had planned to “make a few pounds” and sell the house and build a family home.
A bank colleague had shown her the plans for Newpark Village, and she and her husband viewed the area and thought it was a good property to buy. Her colleague got quotes from solicitors in Athlone, and Mr Lohan was picked for the transaction, she said.
The house sale was completed in June 2005, but, at the end of that year her colleague said there was a “bit of an issue with planning” and not to panic.
The couple had an interest-only mortgage for three years and had intended to sell on, she said.
However, the family were now living in a two-bedroom house that was damp but that they financially could not afford to leave. “It is a living nightmare,” she said.
There was €212,000 outstanding on the couple’s mortgage and they had a €40,000 mortgage on their Lanesborough home.
The Newpark Village residents had decided to try and market the development of eight houses as holiday homes in the run-up to the Ryder Cup but there was not even a viewing, she said.