Up to 15 people ordered to leave Blackrock house

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Up to 15 people were ordered to leave a house in Avoca Park, Blackrock, following a High Court ruling in a dispute over the property.

Mr Justice Mark Sanfey ruled the previous week that Everyday Finance and receivers Stephen Tennant and Nicholas O’Dwyer were entitled to an injunction granting them possession pending the full hearing of the dispute. The order was made against Paul White, his wife Jane Gleeson and persons unknown occupying the house.

On 27 February 2020, the judge directed that vacant possession, keys and alarm codes be handed to the receivers by 20 March. Eamon Marray BL, for the fund and receivers, said vacant possession had been agreed for that date. A stay also applied to any sale by the receivers until the High Court determined the dispute.

The receivers, appointed in 2017, claimed the property was subject to a mortgage connected to loans advanced by AIB and acquired by Everyday Finance. It was claimed that €3 million was due under the loans. The plaintiffs also claimed that about 15 people occupied the premises and that the defendants had not co-operated with the receivers.

White and Gleeson opposed the application, including on the ground that the receivers had not been validly appointed. It was also claimed that Gleeson owed Everyday Finance no money and was entitled to rent or other payment for her interest in the property.

White told the court that, with AIB’s knowledge, the premises had been let to a single tenant since 2002 and that he did not know how anyone else came to occupy it. The judge noted a submission by David Kennedy SC, for the defendants, that his clients intended to appeal the injunction ruling to the Court of Appeal.