Law of the land finally sanctions buy-out

THIS is a story about a town divided, and how history isn’t dead, but merely sleeping.

Last Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a ground rent law that allows long-standing tenants to buy out the lease.

Ground rent is still paid in parts of the country. It’s a payment for the ground on which a property is built, and the freehold titles tend to be owned by local authorities, or else date from before Independence. For instance, in Castlebar, Co Mayo, the freehold to several properties was owned by Lord Lucan, before he disappeared.