A WOMAN who used her spare key to move back into the house she had agreed to sell for €785,000 was trespassing, the High Court has ruled.
Janice O’Brien had in 2007 agreed to sell her home at Clontarf Road, Dublin, to developers for in an arrangement where she would get an apartment in nearby Glenbrian Hall, Howth Road, worth €450,000, plus a payment of €335,000, of which €125,000 was to be paid upfront.
She became unhappy with the deal and the apartment as a result of problems, including damp, and moved back into her former home using a spare key she had kept, Mr Justice George Birmingham said yesterday.
Two developers who made the deal with her, Martin Walsh and Patrick O’Donnell, with an address at Glenbrian Hall, had secured an interim injunction restraining her from entering the house pending the outcome of full proceedings against her.
Mr Justice Birmingham granted them a perpetual injunction against Ms O’Brien restraining her from occupying the house. Notwithstanding the sense of grievance she had about the deal, there was “no possible justification” for the reoccupation of her former home, he said. It was quite simply an act of trespass and the plaintiffs were entitled to an injunction to restrain any repetition.
He dismissed a counter-claim by Ms O’Brien seeking to set aside two contracts related to the deal and damages for breach of contract.
Outlining the background, the judge said Ms O’Brien had lived at Clontarf Road with her two daughters and her husband, but by 2007 the couple were estranged.
Mr O’Donnell and Mr Walsh had co-operated in the development of the Glenbrian Hall apartment complex and were put in touch with Ms O’Brien through her mother.
In 2004 the mother had sold part of her back garden, also in Clontarf, to the two men for development, the judge said.
Ms O’Brien’s house also had a long back garden and she later entered into the deal to sell her home to them for development.
The August 2007 agreement, signed by her without legal advice, provided for the sale of her house. It also provided that she would buy the three-bed Glenbrian apartment from Mr O’Donnell’s wife, Catherine O’Donnell, who was the beneficial owner of that property.
The price for the house was €785,000 and the apartment was to be sold for €450,000 to Ms O’Brien.
Ms O’Brien then got a solicitor and appeared from time to time to have “second thoughts” about the deal, believing the €785,000 was an undervaluation and the apartment was overvalued, the judge said.
However, she was prepared to proceed with the arrangement and instructed her solicitor to go ahead.
Mr Justice Birmingham said that even after getting legal advice and coming to the view she had got a poor deal, Ms O’Brien did not extricate herself from the transaction or reopen it but rather recommitted herself to it.
Although there were unacceptable delays in the conveyancing, Ms O’Brien also received good title to the apartment.
Her unhappiness about aspects of the Glenbrian contract could not provide a basis for trespassing on her former home.