The High Court has found that Brian Mahon acquired title by adverse possession to a yard behind his shop at 19A Bangor Drive, Crumlin, after he and earlier occupiers used it exclusively. The court did not make a final order on the consequences of that finding, saying it would hear the parties further.
Mr Mahon brought a Circuit Court appeal after failing to establish his claim there. The defendants, Edward and Theresa O’Reilly, had paper title to the yard behind their home at No. 19, which adjoins the shop. The dispute concerned whether Mr Mahon and his predecessors had possessed the yard adversely to that title for the required period.
Mr Mahon said he bought 19A in 1998 and used the yard to store equipment for his heating and plumbing business. He said access from the shop and lane was blocked after he removed a dividing wall following a local authority enforcement notice around Christmas 2001. He returned after Christmas to find the rear shop door and yard gates blocked.
Earlier occupiers and witnesses supported his account of the yard’s use. Christine Gaynor, who regularly attended the premises while her son had an interest in 19A, and Stephen Perry, a former occupier, said the O’Reillys did not use the yard. They described doors to the lane as bolted from inside the yard. The O’Reillys disputed that account.
The O’Reillys said they used the yard from the early 1980s for a washing line, bicycles and storage, and that they had asserted ownership in letters to occupiers of 19A. Their son said he posted those letters. Mr Mahon and earlier occupiers denied receiving them.
The judge found the evidence conflicted but preferred the accounts of Ms Gaynor, Mr Perry and Mr Mahon. She had difficulty accepting that the O’Reillys used the yard from 1982 to 2001, noting that they took steps to exclude Mr Mahon only after the wall came down. The judge also said that even if the ownership letters had been received, they were not by themselves sufficient to stop the limitation period running.
The court concluded that the owners and occupiers of 19A had exclusive use of the yard from 1979 until 2002, and that Mr Mahon had obtained title through his and his predecessors’ occupation. The judgment records that the O’Reillys retained paper title, but does not set out a final consequential order; the court said it would hear further from the parties.