The High Court ordered Leisureworld Limited and Leisureplex (Tallaght) Limited to pay €478,000 in a dispute over rent at a Tallaght entertainment centre. Justice Hogan gave summary judgment for half the outstanding rent and adjourned the balance for a plenary hearing, where the extent of the landlords’ alleged contractual breaches and the tenants’ claimed losses remain to be determined.
Westpark Investments Limited and Vencourt Limited sought nearly €959,600 in rent arrears. Under a 1990 lease, Westpark was landlord and Vencourt the management company. The premises at the Village Green Centre are operated as Leisureplex, an entertainment centre with bowling, children’s play areas and restaurants.
The lease originally provided access to about 177 parking spaces. In 2008, the parties agreed to a variation under which Leisureplex gave up its rights under the original arrangement for €550,000 and received access to a minimum of 142 spaces shared with others. A side letter suspended rent from September 2007 to August 2010, with previously paid rent to be refunded, while redevelopment was expected to reduce parking temporarily. The planned underground car park was never completed after the project stalled during the financial crisis. A hoarding remained in place, blocking some spaces.
Leisureworld admitted that rent had not been paid since the moratorium ended in August 2010. It argued that Westpark had breached the agreement by providing fewer spaces than promised and leaving the hoarding and unfinished works in place. The parties disputed how many spaces were available and whether Leisureplex customers could use disc-parking spaces. After inspecting the car park, Justice Hogan said a full hearing would be needed to resolve those questions. For the summary application, he assumed the tenants’ case at its highest and treated more than half the available spaces as denied to them.
The judge said the alleged parking shortfall and unfinished works could support a counterclaim for breach of contract, but would not justify withholding all rent: Leisureplex continued to receive substantial benefit from the lease. He considered that the tenants could in principle rely on equitable set-off, as their claim arose from the same contract and had a real prospect of success. However, the losses and the practical availability of parking remained uncertain pending evidence at trial.
Justice Hogan therefore assessed an interim set-off at 50% of the outstanding rent. He ordered summary judgment for €478,000 and adjourned the balance for a plenary hearing. He said the amount was an interim assessment and did not prevent Leisureplex from establishing greater damages at the full hearing. The precise form of the order was to be discussed with counsel.