The Court of Appeal has refused an appeal by Gavin Crowley and affirmed a High Court order requiring him to complete the sale of Newbarn, Kilsallaghan, County Dublin, to Brian Leggett for €460,000.
The appeal concerned an order for specific performance made by the High Court in April 2019. Specific performance requires a party to carry out the contract. The Court of Appeal held that Crowley had not shown the High Court was wrong to order it, and rejected his request for damages instead.
Crowley argued that a boundary dispute made completion impossible and that selling the home would cause hardship to him, his partner and his father. The judgment records that an adjoining landowner had brought trespass proceedings in 2004. They were adjourned generally in 2006, and a notice of intention to proceed was served in 2012. The High Court found no evidence of a continuing boundary or trespass dispute. It ordered Crowley to transfer the best title he could give, while Leggett accepted disclosure of the risk. The Court of Appeal found no error in that approach and said the order did not extinguish any third-party interest.
The court said hardship is an unusual and exceptional basis for refusing specific performance of a land sale. It upheld the finding that Crowley entered the contract willingly, and held that the financial pressure that led him to sell his home did not establish a basis to avoid it. The judgment also noted there was no finding that Leggett had been told Crowley’s father had an interest in the property. The High Court accepted that the father had provided financial assistance, but made no finding that he held an interest in the property or established the extent of that assistance.
The High Court had rejected an allegation that Leggett agreed to pay €65,000 in cash beyond the €460,000 recorded in the contract. That finding was not appealed. The appeal judgment also records that the bank’s successor had said it would release its charge upon payment of €445,887.20 from the sale proceeds.
The Court of Appeal concluded that Crowley had not established that the High Court erred in ordering specific performance rather than damages. The appeal was refused and the High Court order affirmed.