Nursing home resident gets order against squatter

A nursing home resident has secured a High Court order for possession of a house owned by her in south Co Dublin where she alleges a squatter has lived for more than a year.

Patricia Martin sought orders requiring Darko Malencia leave a bungalow at Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin.

She claimed Mr Malencia unlawfully moved into her property in late 2016.

At the High Court on Monday Mr Justice Séamus Noonan ruled Ms Martin, who lives in a nursing home, was entitled to orders granting her possession of the property acquired by her in 2013.

The matter was not contested and was before the High Court via an appeal by Ms Martin over a Circuit Court judge’s refusal to make the possession order.

Paul Coughlan BL, for Ms Martin, said the Circuit Court had not granted the order because certain details required by it had had not been given.

Counsel said Ms Martin bought the property in 2013 and had at one point considered moving there from the nursing home where she has resided since 2007.

She first discovered somebody was squatting at her property in 2016, he said.

In a sworn statement, Ms Martin said she had no idea how Mr Malencia came to occupy the premises. She never met him nor had she entered into an agreement with him or received any rent from him.

When challenged about his occupation by Ms Martin’s legal representatives, Mr Malencia had claimed he had been given a letting by a party she had never heard of.

In early 2017, letters were sent to Mr Malencia asking him to vacate the property and, when he failed to do so, court proceedings were initiated.

Mr Malencia did not contest the application and no representations were made on his behalf during Monday’s brief hearing.

Mr Justice Noonan placed a stay of four weeks on the possession order to allow Mr Malencia get his affairs in order and vacate the premises.