The High Court has ruled that receiver William O’Riordan is entitled to possession of a house at No. 1 Cherryvalley Green, Rathmolyon, subject to Kevin Dunne’s beneficial interest arising from a deposit recorded in the purchase contract.
In a judgment delivered on 31 May 2019, Ms Justice Pilkington found that Mr Dunne’s interest was the same proportion of the property as €51,285 bears to the agreed €450,000 price. She said that interest could be noted on the register. The court rejected claims that a further €70,000, or other sums spent on the house, should reduce the price or create additional rights.
The dispute concerned a 2008 contract between Mr Dunne and M.&M. Construction Limited for the house, part of the Cherryvalley development. Mr Dunne said he had paid the deposit from funds raised by borrowing against his family home. M.&M.’s witnesses and its solicitor said the amount had instead been recorded in lieu of money owed to Mr Dunne’s carpentry company, KBC Carpentry. The judge accepted the solicitor’s evidence that the deposit represented an offset, but held that the vendor could not now resile from the executed contract’s statement that the deposit had been paid.
Mr Dunne also said the parties had agreed to deduct another €70,000 and that, at a January 2009 meeting, he was allowed to take the property as it stood and receive the deeds. The other witnesses denied that such a meeting or agreement took place. The judge found no satisfactory evidence of an additional agreement and rejected the claim that Mr Dunne had acquired the entire beneficial interest.
The court also rejected claims for money said to have been spent on works at the property, finding no contractual or other basis to recover those sums from the receiver. It noted that Mr Dunne had disclosed rental of the property only in his evidence, leaving the rental income as a matter for the receiver to address.
The judgment records that the contract had not been rescinded. The court therefore granted the receiver’s possession order subject to Mr Dunne’s deposit-based interest. It did not determine any further orders or costs at that stage: the judge said she would hear the parties on those matters.