The High Court has granted receivers interlocutory possession of an incomplete, unoccupied apartment development in Dundrum, allowing them to take steps to realise the best price reasonably obtainable for the property. The order concerned Dundrum only; the court did not grant possession of the Airfield or Knocklyon properties.
In a judgment delivered on 21 July 2023, Ms Justice Emily Egan found the lenders had shown a strong case likely to succeed at trial, a test required for the mandatory relief sought. The defendants accepted that the first defendant, Victoria Homes Limited, owed money to the lenders, that the properties secured the debt, that receivers had power to sell, and that the company had defaulted under a settlement agreement. They also accepted the receivers’ appointments were validly made.
The defendants argued that the lenders had engineered the default and that the Dundrum property would be sold at an undervalue to produce an improper profit. The judge said the affidavits did not provide credible evidence of a substantive case that the lenders had procured the default or would engage in fraud. She also found the defendants had no present entitlement to stop the settlement process over unpaid running costs, because the contractual conditions for those costs to become payable had not been met.
The court weighed the prospect of a sale before trial against the parties’ competing claims. It concluded that damages could compensate the defendants if they later established that the receivers’ appointment was invalid or that the property was sold at an undervalue. The lenders, meanwhile, faced a risk of losing a current sale opportunity if possession were refused, and the judge considered the defendants unable to satisfy a damages award.
The judgment criticised the “pitched battle” over possession. The receivers said they first took possession by changing locks; the judge accepted that this was not peaceable possession. The parties disputed accounts of later confrontations, including allegations of force and threats.
The order does not conclude the proceedings. Claims concerning Airfield and Knocklyon remain, and the plaintiffs must continue to progress the action. The judge said any attempt to obtain possession of those properties without consent should be brought to court. She was also willing to permit the defendants to arrange a valuation of Dundrum in its current state and on the assumption that development was completed. Final orders and costs were to be addressed at a hearing on 25 July 2023.