A CO DUBLIN woman has secured more than €100,000 damages at the High Court after she was unable to move into her intended new home because the builders failed to correct “serious structural defects” in the property.
Theresa McGuinness, an office manager of Brook Lane, Rush, Co Dublin, had sued Coalport Building Company Ltd, Thomas McFeely of Ailesbury Road, Dublin, a director of the firm; and Laurence O’Mahony, Dawson Street, Dublin, for damages alleging breach of an agreement to buy a property at Cloch Choirneal, Old Coach Road, Balrothery, Balbriggan, Co Dublin.
The defendants had denied the claims but Mr Justice Peter Charleton yesterday found in favour of Ms McGuinness and awarded her total damages of some €103,000.
In her action, Ms McGuinness said she did not finalise the agreement to buy the terraced house in July 2004 for some €352,000 because serious defects, in particular with the roof tiling, were not corrected. She had paid a booking deposit of €3,000 in 2002 and made another part payment of €25,000 in April 2004.
She said she was given a key to the house so she could store her possessions and had permission to have work carried out there. In August 2004, she said she and her advisers met with Mr McFeely at the house and raised a number of issues but Mr McFeely became aggressive and ordered them out of the house.
That same day, Mr McFeely had asked her to sign the contract which she refused to do. Ms McGuinness said Mr McFeely then ordered that the locks be changed. She claimed she was denied access to the house but was able to complete her snag list, details of which were provided to the defendants in November 2004.
The following month, she was informed that the defendants were not going to proceed with the sale of the property. Eventually, Ms McGuinness moved into another house and the property at Balrothery was sold to another party, the court heard.
The defendants had pleaded there was nothing wrong with the property and also said Ms McGuinness did not have their permission to have works carried out.
Mr McFeely told the court yesterday he had ordered Ms McGuinness’s experts out of the house for health and safety reasons and because they had cast aspersions on his professionalism.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Charleton, after considering expert evidence from both sides, ruled there were “clear and serious” problems with the roof of the house Ms McGuinness intended to purchase.
He said it was obvious both sides had entered into an oral contract to buy the property. As a result of the defendant’s decision not to go ahead with the sale, Ms McGuinness was entitled to damages, he held. The judge also found Ms McGuinness had permission to have work carried out at the house, including fitting out a bathroom, supplying an oil burner, fireplace, tiling, door handles and installing an ISDN line.
The judge ruled she was entitled to the cost of those items, the costs of hiring professionals and damages for distress totalling €103,000. The judge rejected Ms McGuinness’s claim she was entitled to €5,000 for the cost of staying at a hotel for almost two months pending the house being ready. She had claimed Mr McFeely had suggested the idea and had said he would pay for it but Mr McFeely denied he did so. “I don’t know if there are any developers that benevolent, if there are I don’t know them,” he said.