This Ireland… 1

From yesterdays Irish Times…

Thirty-seven homeowners in a Co Dublin housing estate, where properties cost more than €1 million each, have no legal title to the driveways into their homes…

Mr Justice Esmond Smyth has been told in the Circuit Civil Court that they will have problems selling their homes because they do not have a legally-binding right-of-way to the estate, Elton Court in Sandycove.

Tell us more…

The problem over legal title to access roads to Elton Court came to light when Ronbow Management Company Ltd, the management company that runs the estate with and for the residents, tried to block a local vegetable sales man parking his delivery van in sight of their properties.

Niall Beirne, counsel for Tommy Byrne, who used to grow vegetables on the plots where Elton Court now stands, said the residents claimed the van lowered the tone of the area.

He said that after retiring Mr Byrne had been forced, through pressure from the residents, to get rid of the offending van and buy a car for himself and his wife Philomena.

I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for the residents actions. Who are these Byrne people anyway?

Both of them have lived for 35 years at Breffni Terrace, Sandycove, alongside the relatively new Elton Court development.

Oh. I see.

Mr and Mrs Byrne took an action in the Circuit Civil Court seeking a declaration that they were entitled to park their car in Breffni Lane, close to their mews home along which they had access and parking long before Elton Court had been developed.

Mr Beirne said Sorahans, the developers, had granted them a licensed spot to park their delivery van or car in Elton Court where the residents now leave their bins, but his clients, who were elderly, had been unable to continuously walk the 185m to and from this parking spot. They said they were entitled to park their car beside their home.

I’m sure there are two sides to this story.

This was disputed by Ronbow Management Company Ltd, with a registered address at Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin.

See?

Mrs Byrne said the residents had visited her home when her husband was ill upstairs, and had threatened to stay until the vehicle was moved.

Okayyy…

Suzanne Boylan, counsel for the company and the residents, said the defendants were unable to consent to the Byrnes obtaining an easement to park because of the difficulty with legal title to rights-of-way on access roads to the estate…Judge Smyth granted the Byrnes a declaration of entitlement to an easement to park a car at their home. He said the residents had no alternative but to take the steps they had done because they could not be seen to consent to this matter without the court’s intervention in the case.

Hmmmm…..