Fitzsimons v Menkin

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1938
• Date: 01 January 1938
• Court: High Court

[H. C., S. C., I.F.S.]

Fitzsimons

and

Menkin

Possession sought by landlord for purpose of complying with requirements of local authority -Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1923 (No. 19 of 1923), s. 4 (1) (e) -Whether s. 4 (1) (e), only applies where landlord is a Government Department, local authority or statutory undertaking - Landlord required to repair or demolish dangerous building - Ground floor occupied by tenant - Upper part only of building dangerous - Whether possession "reasonably required."

1. Section. 4 (1), of the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1923, provides:—"No order or judgment for the recovery of any dwelling-house to which this Act applies, or for the ejectment of a tenant therefrom, shall be made or given unless . . . . (e) the dwelling-house is reasonably required for the purpose of the execution of the duties, powers or requirements of any Government Department, or of the statutory duties, powers or requirements of any local authority or statutory undertaking; and, in any such case as aforesaid, the Court considers it reason able to make such an order or give such judgment."F. was the owner of a four-storey tenement house in Dublin, the ground floor and basement whereof were occupied by M. for business purposes, as a statutory tenant under the Rent Restriction Acts. F. was served with a notice, from the Borough Surveyor of the Dublin Corporation, stating that the walls of the house were in a dangerous state and requiring the owner or occupier to "take down, secure or repair the same." F. ejected the several tenants of the upper part of the house and brought ejectment proceedings against M.in the Dublin Circuit Court, relying on the provisions of s. 4 (1) (e), of the Act of 1923. The Circuit Court granted a decree for possession and from this decree M. appealed to the High Court. Held, by the High Court (Maguire, P. and Meredith J.), applying Irish Land Commission and the Board of Public Works v. RuaneIR, [1938] I. R. 148, that s. 4 (1) (e), was...