The High Court has rejected a Castlecomer commercial tenant’s claim that he had an agreement with his landlord for a site at Shamrock Commercial Park, but has not yet decided whether the tenant has statutory rights to a new tenancy in the premises he occupies.
In a judgment delivered on 28 March 2019, Ms Justice Murphy found on the balance of probabilities that Michael Leahy’s account of a late-1999 deal with Michael Doyle was not established. The judge said the court would hear legal submissions on whether any rights Leahy may have derive from the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1980.
The case is a circuit court appeal. Doyle sought possession of part of a warehouse occupied by Leahy, who trades as Ideal Kitchens and Bedrooms. Leahy counterclaimed for specific performance of an alleged agreement to transfer an alternative site for €30,000. In the alternative, he sought recognition of a statutory lease.
Leahy said he surrendered his earlier tenancy rights in return for €30,000 and a promise of a half-acre site elsewhere on the property. He maintained that he moved his kitchen business into another part of the premises while awaiting the transfer. Doyle denied making that agreement. He said he had paid Leahy IR£17,000 in 1997 to surrender statutory tenancy rights and later allowed him to occupy part of Warehouse 3 on the same rental terms as before.
The judge found Doyle’s witnesses more credible. She noted that Leahy’s 2008 and 2010 letters referred to undertakings about a possible site but did not describe the detailed written agreement later pleaded. The court also considered that the claimed €30,000 payment in 1999 was inconsistent with the euro becoming legal tender in Ireland in 2002. It accepted evidence that rent invoices were sent and rejected Leahy’s claim that he had not received them.
The court’s findings were that Leahy occupied the Warehouse 3 premises from late 1999 or early 2000, paid rent until about September or October 2002, and paid none thereafter despite demands. The judgment says his rights, if any, arise solely under the 1980 Act; the court had not determined that question when the judgment ended.
In September 2018, Judge Alice Doyle had ordered possession within ten weeks, €29,796 for rent arrears and mesne rates, and costs. A stay was granted pending the High Court appeal. The supplied judgment records those Circuit Court orders but does not state the final outcome of the appeal or any replacement order.