Family living in garage after house renovations

A woman has taken legal action against a builder and others because she and her teenage son are living in a garage beside their newly renovated and extended house in Co Offaly which is "uninhabitable" and a "veritable shambles", the High Court heard yesterday.

Mr Justice O'Sullivan said photographs of the house, taken some months after certificates of completion were allegedly issued by Mr Fergus Garland, of architects/engineers Garland Murphy and Associates, disclosed a "shocking" and "appalling" structure.

It is claimed that the blockwork, walls, door voids and window voids are "off-plumb" and/or "off-square" throughout the structure, which had resulted in irregularly shaped rooms and ill-fitting doors, windows and skirting boards.

Among a series of other claims, it is also alleged that the new roof is unsafe and that skim plasterwork is of poor standard throughout.

Ms Sarah Maria Leahy (46) told the judge that for the first time yesterday, she had heard the builder she is suing, Mr Joseph Rawson, described as a "builder's labourer".

She also alleges that another defendant, Mr Fergus Garland, was recommended to her by Mr Michael Halpin of the Birr/Roscrea branch of Irish Permanent plc, another defendant.

Ms Leahy is suing Mr Rawson, Coolafancy, Tinahely, Co Wicklow; Mr Fergus Garland and Mr Peter Murphy, trading as Garland Murphy and Associates, Clonminch, Tullamore, Co Offaly, and Irish Permanent plc arising from the renovation and extension of what she intended as her home and a bed-and-breakfast premises at Ballykelly, Cadamstown, Birr.

The defendants deny the claims. They also plead that if works need to be done, remedial works to the structure would suffice. They reject the claim that a new structure is required.

Mr Edward Walsh SC, for Ms Leahy, said she bought a cottage on 1.1 acres at Ballykelly in 1996. She intended to renovate and extend it and run it as a bed-and-breakfast. She secured planning permission and loans from the Irish Permanent. She was later advised by Garland Murphy to alter the roof on the extension and approval for that was secured from Offaly County Council. Building began in August 1996 and a certificate of completion was issued by Garland Murphy in 1997.

Mr Walsh said that Ms Leahy was told by Mr Murphy that, by the end of the summer of 1997, she would be sitting beside a barbecue outside her home, sipping a glass of wine and looking out over the Slieve Bloom mountains.

Instead of that, Ms Leahy was looking at a house which was a "veritable shambles" and living a "nightmare". She and her son were living in a converted garage on the site. They had been advised that the structure was unfit for use and could not be repaired and they were suing the defendants for €212,000 to meet the costs of taking down the structure and building a new home.

In evidence, Ms Leahy said she agreed the sale for the property at Ballykelly in February 1996. She secured a loan for £22,000 from Irish Permanent and later secured another of £28,000. She had dealt with Mr Halpin of the Birr/Roscrea branch. The only proviso was that an engineer would supervise the works. Mr Halpin mentioned Mr Garland, the engineer Irish Permanent would use.

The hearing resumes today.