Dublin City Council is entitled to retain legal ownership of 41 Parnell Square after the High Court found that former owner John Lynskey repudiated a settlement agreement requiring him to cooperate with the property's transfer back into private ownership.
The Georgian property, facing Parnell Square West, had been owned by Lynskey and the late John Bermingham before falling into disrepair. The council placed it on the Derelict Sites Register in 1996 and acquired legal title under a vesting order in 1998.
Lynskey and Bermingham challenged that acquisition. Their judicial review case was settled in June 2003. Under the agreement they paid €75,000, agreed to complete specified works, and were to receive the property back as equal tenants in common once the requirements were satisfied.
The works were certified as complete by April 2008. However, no transfer deed was ever executed.
Ms Justice Nessa Cahill found that Dublin City Council repeatedly sent draft transfer documents between 2009 and 2014 to solicitors acting, or reasonably believed to be acting, for Lynskey and Bermingham. Copies were also sent directly to their address. The judge found the council had taken every reasonable step to transfer title.
Lynskey maintained that he never physically saw the draft deed. The court held that this did not assist him. His own evidence showed that by 2010, or 2014 at the latest, he was unwilling to accept the property's transfer because of its deteriorated condition unless unspecified changes were made.
The judge held that the settlement necessarily contained an implied obligation on Lynskey and Bermingham to cooperate with and execute an appropriate transfer document. Lynskey's refusal amounted to a repudiatory breach, entitling the council to rescind the agreement.
The result is that Dublin City Council retains legal title and Lynskey has no interest in the property. However, the court held it would be inequitable for the council also to retain the €75,000 payment and directed that it be returned to him. A final costs order remained to be made.