A 78-year-old widow whose worst fear was homelessness walked out of court yesterday owning a period home worth an estimated £250,000. Judge Joseph Matthews in the Circuit Civil Court granted Mrs Mary Connell and her 55-year-old son, Tom, a declaration that they were the legal owners of a 17th century house.
Their formerly rented four-storey home at 85, North King Street in Dublin was built in 1650. Mrs Connell and her son succeeded in extinguishing the title of the owner of the property, developer Mr Paraic Muldowney, by satisfying the judge she had been in continuous occupation and possession of the house for over 12 years.
She told her counsel, Mr James Dwyer SC, that her late husband, James, had leased the property in 1953 at £2 a week. As well as rearing her six children there she ran a boarding house in it until her retirement after her husband's death in 1979. She said her husband's lease ran out in 1970 and although a new lease had been sought in the early 1970s, none had ever been agreed or signed.
Since 1979 no rent had been demanded or paid although she had offered rent to the then landlord who had refused it. She and her son had maintained the house.
The court heard that Mr Muldowney, of Woodley Park, Dundrum, Dublin, last year bought the fee simple of the property, meaning its permanent and absolute tenure. Mrs Connell claimed his title was extinguished and statute-barred under the Statute of Limitations Act of 1957.
Judge Matthews said Mrs Connell was a stranger in law seeking adverse possession. She had acquired an interest by way of adverse possession for the period the law required, in excess of 12 years, and so was entitled to a declaration that she was the owner.