Company representing Dublin apartment dwellers brings High Court action over hotel access

A management company representing hundreds of south Dublin apartment dwellers has brought a High Court action against the operators of a hotel which it claims intends to prevent them from directly accessing the hotel.

The action has been brought by the Beacon One Management Company Ltd against the Beacon Leisure Investments Ltd, which operates the Beacon Hotel in Sandyford, in Dublin.

The company manages some 70 apartments which are in the same unit as, but are separate entities to, the hotel located in the Sandyford Business Park in South Dublin.

At the High Court today Robert Beatty SC for the management company said the residents were able to gain access to the hotel through doors linking the two premises on several floors of the shared unit.

The access has been available for over a decade, counsel said, adding that many of the residents pay to use the hotel' gym.

One apartment resident who is a wheelchair user had used the right of way to access the hotel's lifts when the apartment's lifts were not working.

The hotel operators had indicated some time ago it intended to end that arrangement and replace the existing doors with fire doors.

The proposed action would prevent the apartment residents from accessing the hotel, except in the case of a fire, counsel said.

The work is due to begin on November 23 next, counsel said.

Counsel said that his client was unsure why the hotel operators want to close off the access points, but said there had been a few incidents of anti-social behaviour involving some apartment residents some years ago.

Counsel said that ultimately the case will come down to an interpretation of the respective parties' leases.

In its action, the management company seeks various orders including one restraining the defendant from interfering with or restricting the right of way between the two premises.

The management company also seeks an injunction restraining the defendant from interfering or obstructing access ways or common areas between the apartments and the hotel's adjacent hotel premises.

Counsel said his client did not want to take proceedings but had failed to secure an undertaking from the defendant not to go ahead with the works later this month.

Permission to serve short notice of the proceedings on the hotel operator was granted, on an ex-parte basis, by Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds.

The case will come back before the court later this week.