The High Court has ordered Markland Holdings Limited and Cantier Construction Limited to pay Denis Murnaghan €238,909.90 for damage associated with building works at an adjoining property in Dublin 2.
In a judgment delivered on 1 December 2004, Miss Justice Laffoy found that construction at No. 70 Leeson Close caused cracking and water damage to Murnaghan’s former home at 5 Pembroke Place. She also found that the first defendant, Markland Holdings, breached its duty of care by failing to keep the foundations of the two buildings separate, contrary to normal good building practice and the agreement reached between the parties’ architects.
The court heard that the construction began in late 2002. Murnaghan obtained an interim injunction on 5 June 2003 that initially restrained further work. That injunction was later vacated against Markland after the parties agreed to investigate damage; they subsequently agreed that the developer could complete the building without causing damage to the house. The building was completed, and the case proceeded to trial on damages because Murnaghan had sold the house in July 2004.
The judgment found that the cracking visible in 2003 was probably caused by the works, and that water ingress and the resulting damage were also attributable to construction activity. The court accepted that contact between the buildings at foundation level breached the duty of care. However, it did not find that demolition and rebuilding was necessary. It concluded that foundation piling and separation works, as outlined by an engineer called for the first defendant, would probably be required to make the former home structurally sound.
The court assessed the undamaged market value at €1.3 million to €1.4 million and found that the damage would reduce that value by €175,000. It rejected the €830,000 sale price as a reliable measure of the damaged property’s open market value, finding the home had not been properly marketed and that the seller had treated it as a site requiring clearance. The court said he must bear the resulting loss and declined to award the claimed costs of buying and fitting out another home.
The award included €48,750 for 15 months’ alternative rent, assessed at a reasonable market rate rather than the €5,000 monthly rent paid, as well as €2,701.30 for works, €612.50 in lease stamp duty, €1,846.10 in removal expenses and €10,000 in general damages. The order was against both defendants jointly. The judgment stated that no part of the award, as between the plaintiff and defendants, was solely attributable to the first defendant’s contractual liability.