Saturday, February 18, 2012
Forget squatter’s rights — it was squatter’s flight yesterday after it emerged that a man who won his claim to a property he had broken into 30 years ago had left the country.
Desmond Grogan secured a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday that the state could not remove him from No 6 Enniskerry Rd in Phibsborough, Dublin.
Mr Grogan had broken into the red-brick house in Feb 1982, months after the death of the owner, barrister Alice Dolan, in Oct 1981.
He claimed in court that, having lived in the property since 1982, he had achieved adverse possession — effectively squatter’s rights — and therefore the property was legally his.
However, it has emerged that Mr Grogan and his wife Mary do not live in the mid-terrace house on Dublin’s northside, and have been renting it out.
Yesterday a student answered the door at No 6 and said he had been living there for the past three years.
He also said his landlord, Mr Grogan, was "old-school" and "a nice guy".
It is understood the Grogans also run a B&B in nearby Drumcondra but calls there yesterday failed to locate Mr Grogan and a member of staff said the Grogans were now out of the country.
She said she did not know when they would return.
The Irish Property Owners’ Association said yesterday there would have been nothing to stop Mr Grogan from renting the property and registering as a landlord with the Private Residential Tenancies Board, even though there had been efforts by the state to oust him from ownership.
Margaret McCormick of the IPOA said to register a tenancy with the PRTB did not require proof of ownership, while there were also some exemptions to registration.
Ms McCormick also said that despite the large number of vacant residential properties around the country, there were no major reports of a growth in squatting.
A person can achieve adverse possession of a property when they are in sole exclusive occupation without the acknowledgement of the legal owner for a minimum period of 12 years.
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