The High Court granted joint receivers Ken Fennell and David Van Dessel summary judgment for €432,917.43 against Pat McDonagh for rent arrears on 40 car park leases at Union Quay, Cork.
In a judgment delivered on 20 February 2017, Mr Justice Eagar held that McDonagh had not raised a bona fide defence and that his affidavits disclosed no arguable defence. The ruling followed an application for summary judgment, rather than a full trial of the dispute.
The leases were granted in 1996 for 35 years over 40 spaces on the fifth floor of Union Quay Carpark. McDonagh acquired the tenant’s interest in 1997. The rent was payable annually in advance, and the leases provided for interest if payment was late. The receivers, appointed over certain assets of David Coleman and Michael Lavelle in 2013, sought arrears up to and including 2016.
The parties agreed that McDonagh had a break option allowing him to surrender the leases on specified dates, provided he gave at least three months’ written notice. He gave notice in June 2011 and executed deeds of surrender. The court held that the notice did not meet the contractual notice period and was ineffective. McDonagh later gave the required notice before the 30 July 2016 break date, and the plaintiffs accepted the surrender from that date.
McDonagh argued that the leases formed part of a wider investment and car park management arrangement. He said rent was to be discharged from income collected by the manager, that he had taken over day-to-day management in 2008, and that he had received no income from the management company after his attempted 2011 surrender. The receivers stated that they had received no income in respect of the spaces.
The judge said the management company and its shareholders were separate legal entities, and that the evidence did not establish a basis to treat them as principals, agents, beneficiaries or trustees. The court also noted that McDonagh had not brought proceedings against the management company for the alleged loss and had not raised that defence in earlier Circuit Court proceedings concerning rent arrears.
The court therefore granted the receivers’ motion and entered summary judgment for €432,917.43. The judgment records no separate order for interest or costs in its concluding paragraph.