A tenant must pay four landlords €45,614.22 in damages after the High Court found that unauthorised works to a Cork bar caused the floor above to sag and led to repair costs.
Mr Justice Quinn found that the 2007 alterations to the ground floor at 56 MacCurtain Street caused settlement in the first-floor structure. The works breached a lease clause requiring the landlords’ written consent for alterations. The court awarded damages for breach of contract and dismissed the tenant’s counterclaim over goods left at the premises.
The landlords had leased the ground floor to Joe Kearney for 25 years from June 2005. They agreed he could convert the existing Agora Bar into an off-licence and wine shop, the Naked Grape. The court said there was no complaint about those initial works, to which the landlords had consented.
In 2007, the premises were converted back into a bar, later known as the Flux Bar. The court heard that the works included changes to the ground-floor layout and removal of walls. The landlords said they had not consented. Kearney said consent had been given, but the judge found that no consent was given, even if one landlord had said an application would be considered after plans and details were supplied.
Engineers disagreed about the cause and responsibility for the first-floor settlement. The judge found, on the balance of the evidence, that the 2007 works caused the sagging and made remedial work necessary. He also noted that no competent professional had designed or supervised those works.
The landlords initially sought €83,879, later reducing their claim to €63,928.09. The judge allowed €45,614.22, including repair and fire-safety costs, legal fees relating to a licensing application, and €16,250 for lost rent. He disallowed several items, including a claimed inspection cost for which there was no evidence of payment. On lost rent, he accepted that repairs and re-letting could have happened earlier than they did, so awarded half the amount claimed.
Kearney’s counterclaim sought compensation for goods he said the landlords had failed to return. The judge found that he had abandoned possession before the landlords re-entered in December 2009 and had not made a meaningful effort to collect the goods at a 2011 meeting. The court dismissed the counterclaim.
The judgment, delivered on 11 February 2020, records the court’s order that Kearney pay the landlords €45,614.22 in damages. It does not state a separate costs order in the supplied text.