The Court of Appeal has ruled that a High Court possession order made in 2012 can still be enforced despite more than 12 years having passed before Mars Capital Finance Ireland DAC sought permission to execute it.
The underlying proceedings were started by Start Mortgages DAC in 2008 over mortgaged property. The High Court granted possession on March 5, 2012, subject to a six-month stay. That stay expired in September 2012.
Start Mortgages did not seek leave to execute the order until February 2023. The High Court granted leave in May 2024. By then, the underlying loan and mortgage had been transferred to Mars Capital.
Mars Capital subsequently applied to replace Start Mortgages as plaintiff and sought fresh permission to execute the possession order. Aaron McDaid opposed the application, arguing that the 12-year limitation period for an “action upon a judgment” had expired.
The High Court rejected that argument. McDaid appealed only that limitation ruling.
In a joint judgment, Court of Appeal President Ms Justice Costello and Mr Justice McDonald held that an application for leave to execute an existing possession order is not a new action. It is a procedural step within the original proceedings for recovery of land.
The court examined the history of Irish limitation law dating back to nineteenth-century legislation. It concluded that the 1957 Act did not clearly introduce a new 12-year cut-off for enforcement applications of this kind.
The judges also relied on the structure of the Statute of Limitations, which separately regulates actions to recover land and mortgage-related claims. Once the original possession proceedings had been properly brought, an application to execute the resulting order did not restart the limitation analysis as a separate action.
The appeal was therefore dismissed. The practical effect is that Mars Capital remains entitled, subject to the High Court order granting leave, to proceed with execution of the 2012 possession order.
The court’s preliminary view was that Mars Capital should receive its appeal costs.