The High Court has refused to adjourn proceedings brought by a financial fund-appointed receiver seeking the repossession of a house owned by GAA star Davy Fitzgerald.
Receiver James Anderson, of Deloitte, who was appointed by Pepper Finance Ireland DAC, has brought proceedings seeking the possession of a property Mr Fitzgerald owns and where his sister, Helen Fitzgerald, has lived for several years, at Clonara, Sixmilebridge, Co Clare.
Mr Fitzgerald, manager of the Waterford hurling team, acquired the property with loans from ACC Bank that were purportedly acquired by Pepper in 2019.
In a pre-trial application to the court, Helen Fitzgerald sought to have the repossession application adjourned until the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) had adjudicated on an issue raised by her.
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She claims that, as a tenant of the property, her tenancy can only be lawfully ended by the service of a valid notice of termination.
She claims no such notice has been served on her and says she has made a referral to the RTB, a body whose functions include the provision of a dispute resolution service for tenants and landlords.
She further claims the receiver’s repossession proceedings should be put on hold and adjourned until the RTB has determined the matter.
The application was opposed by the plaintiffs.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons refused the adjournment application and said the case should be readied for hearing before the High Court.
In his ruling, the judge said that the determination of issues raised by Ms Fitzgerald, including if she can assert that she has a binding tenancy against the plaintiffs, lies with the High Court and not with the RTB.
There was nothing in the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act that states that the RTB has exclusive jurisdiction to decide whether or not a valid tenancy ever existed, the judge said.
The judge said his judgment should be brought to the attention of the RTB.
When the dispute was previously mentioned before the Deputy Master of the High Court (the court official who deals with pre-trial matters) last October, Mr Fitzgerald’s lawyers raised several issues about loans he acquired from ACC, including the ones acquired by Pepper.
Portuguese court
The former Clare hurling goalkeeper, who also appears on the RTÉ television programme Ireland’s Fittest Family, claims he is the victim of a fraud that has resulted in proceedings being brought against him before a Portuguese court.
Mr Fitzgerald claims his name was, without his knowledge or consent, put on “false” mortgage documentation in respect of “six or seven” properties in Portugal.
Mr Fitzgerald claims a former ACC Bank official, Jarlath Mitchell, with whom he had professional dealings several years ago, entered his name on the “false mortgages and documents”.
Mr Mitchell, it is alleged, was jailed in 2013 for two years after he admitted stealing over €450,000 from customers to pay off debts from unsuccessful investments in the property market.
As a result, Mr Fitzgerald has brought proceedings against UK-based Mr Mitchell and ACC Bank. He has linked those proceedings to the action brought against him by Pepper and Mr Anderson.
Mr Fitzgerald also says the repossession claim should be before the Circuit and not the High Court.
He further says he wants to redeem the mortgage of more than €200,000 but cannot do so because Pepper is demanding an interest surcharge of €25,000, which he claims it is not entitled to.
Mr Fitzgerald’s lawyers have raised questions about the validity of the transfer of the loans from ACC to Pepper and claims he was given insufficient and heavily redacted information about his loan from Pepper.
Lawyers for the fund and the receiver reject Mr Fitzgerald’s criticisms of them.