The High Court has upheld an order requiring Chris Addington to give up possession of a Clontarf property to Declan Gibbons, acting as personal representative of the estate of Vera Hanley. The court refused to grant a further stay and directed Addington to leave by 3 December 2017.
Mr Justice Robert Eagar delivered the judgment on 1 December 2017 in a Circuit Court appeal. The appeal concerned Judge Linnane’s 18 July 2017 decision refusing Addington’s application to transfer the proceedings to the Family Court and ordering possession of the property for Gibbons. The High Court said the Circuit Court judge was correct.
The judgment recounts that Hanley’s will left her property in equal shares to her niece, Maria Gibbons, and nephew, Declan Gibbons, subject to a right for Hanley’s sister-in-law to live at the Clontarf home. The sister-in-law had died before Hanley. Declan Gibbons was the surviving executor and personal representative of the estate.
In 2009, Hanley and Maria Gibbons entered a one-year tenancy agreement for the property at a monthly rent of €1,100. The judgment records that Maria continued living there under the agreement, and that she accepted written notice requiring her to leave after the property was sale agreed. She left on 21 December 2016. Her husband, Addington, remained. The judgment says he had not signed a tenancy agreement or paid rent.
Addington argued that the property was a family home and that he had agreed with Hanley to maintain it while living there. He also challenged the tenancy agreement and raised constitutional and human-rights arguments. The court said the Circuit Court had jurisdiction over the Family Home Protection Act issue and found the tenancy did not give rise to protection under that Act. It also said Addington had not brought proceedings to challenge the constitutionality of the legislation.
The judge concluded that any claim against Hanley’s estate had to be brought within two years of her death, and that Addington had made no application in that regard. The judgment records that Hanley died on 28 February 2014. The court also characterised allegations in Addington’s pleadings as having no factual basis and the proceedings as frivolous and vexatious.
The High Court confirmed the possession order but declined to continue the earlier stay. It noted that Addington had remained without paying rent and required him to vacate by 3 December 2017.