Noel O'Gara bought the freehold interest (ground rents) of 17 houses in Dartmouth Square, Dublin, for a pittance, Dublin County Registrar Susan Ryan was told yesterday.
Mr O'Gara and one of his companies, O'Gara Estates, is contesting a €2,000 estimated valuation on the buy-out of the ground rent for one of those houses, 27 Dartmouth Square.
He told Ms Ryan he would allow property owner David Gillespie to buy out the £5 sterling (€7.50) annual ground rent on No 27 for €100,000.
Ms Ryan heard that Mr Gillespie owned the two-storey house and large rear garden at No 27 subject to a 500-year lease, which still had 390 years to run, under which Mr O'Gara or his heirs in title would have to be paid the annual ground rent of €7.50.
Mr O'Gara told Ms Ryan, who has been asked to decide the value of the ground rent buy-out, that his financial interest in the ground rent should not be devalued simply because he had bought the ground rents for a pittance.
Valuer Paul Good, called on behalf of Mr Gillespie, valued the ground rent buy-out of No 27 at €2,000. Mr O'Gara's valuer, Mr P.R. McElinn, estimated its value at €100,000.
Mr O'Gara said the rear garden of a house in Dartmouth Square had been sold as a mews development site last year for €800,000. He said houses in the square were being offered for sale for up to €4 million.
The county registrar, who heard that Mr Gillespie had bought No 27 in 1982 for £32,000, said she could not estimate the value of the ground rent for No 27 on the current price of property in the area. Under the Landlord and Tenant Act, Mr Gillespie was entitled to seek to buy out the ground rent.
Mr O'Gara bought the freehold interest in the 17 properties in the year 2000. He bought the ground rents separate from the purchase of the two-acre Dartmouth Square Park which he bought from the Darley Estate for €10,000.
Ms Ryan adjourned yesterday's hearing to allow Mr O'Gara's valuer to acquaint himself properly with the provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act.