The High Court has approved the sale of two County Tipperary land folios to Calco Farms Limited or Con Callanan for €337,000 and ordered vacant possession for the purchaser. The order does not determine William Kelly’s claim to possessory title over the land.
The decision was made on 28 July 2014 by Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan on two motions brought by Crohan O’Shea: one seeking approval of the sale and the other seeking possession of Folios 3855 and 3856 in the Barony of Eliogarty.
The land was subject to earlier orders enforcing O’Shea’s judgment mortgage against the interests of Michael Butler and William Butler. In February 2013, the court had approved a part-sale by private treaty, with a two-month stay. That stay was not extended. William Butler is the registered owner of both folios.
The proposed sale to Calco Farms or Callanan followed a process run by court-approved auctioneers. The auctioneer told the court that €337,000 represented open-market value and was a fair price. Ulster Bank, which had security over the land ranking ahead of O’Shea’s judgment mortgage, supported the sale at that price after obtaining its own valuation. The court said a suggested €400,000 purchase by Thurles Truffles Limited had not become a firm offer: the company did not file the required proof of funds or seek approval of a contract by the court’s deadline.
William Kelly opposed the applications, claiming beneficial ownership and later applying to the Property Registration Authority for possessory title on the basis of adverse possession. He said he had possessed the farm for more than 20 years and that it was rented for tillage to Michael Moloney. The Butlers had previously advanced a claim that the land was held in trust for family members. O’Shea’s counsel argued that the adverse-possession application conflicted with those earlier assertions. The judge did not decide which, if any, rights Kelly has in the land.
The court refused to delay the sale and possession motions until the registration application was decided. It found the evidence did not justify an adjournment, noting the earlier orders, the sale evidence and the history of the competing claims.
The possession order directs William Butler, William Kelly, their servants or agents, and anyone with notice of the order to deliver vacant possession to the purchaser. The judge considered separate service on Moloney unnecessary because any letting from Kelly could not give Moloney a better right to remain. She said she would hear counsel on the length of a short stay to allow Moloney to benefit from crops sown that year or grass he had fertilised; the judgment excerpt does not state the stay’s final duration.