Flahive v Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 03 December 1959
• Date: 03 December 1959
• Docket Number: (Nos. 552 and 553 P. of 1953.)
• Court: High Court

(H.C.)

McAuliffe

and

Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust. Flahive v. Same

Tenants at will of cottages - No rent paid for more than twelve years - Whether title acquired by adverse possession - Power of sale by land trust - Liability on land trust to repair - Form of application to Court - Real Property Limitation Act, 1833, s. 7 -Registration of Title Act, 1891 - Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1922, s. 3 - Land Trust Powers Act, 1923.

McA. had served in the British Armed Forces during the 1914-18 War. M. F. was the widow of J. F., who had served in the British Armed Forces during the 1914-18 War and had died in 1936. Under the provisions of s. 3 of the Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1922, and the Land Trust Powers Act, 1923, McA. and J. F. were each provided by the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust with a cottage. McA. continued to live in his cottage until the date of the hearing of this action. J. F. lived in his cottage until his death in 1936. From the date of his death his widow, M. F., had continued in possession until the date of this action. Both McA. and J. F.had entered into tenancy agreements with the Land Trust which provided for the payment of rent and for other matters. Since the decision of the Supreme Court in Leggett and Others v. The Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust and the Attorney-GeneralDLTR 80 I.L.T.R. 33, no rent had been paid by any of the tenants including McA. and J. F. or subsequently by M. F. in respect of the cottages occupied by each of them. McA. and M. F. each claimed to have been in possession for more than twelve years without payment of rent and to have acquired a freehold title as against the Land Trust by virtue of such possession under s. 7 of the Real Property Limitation Act, 1833. The Land Trust had initiated a scheme for the sale to qualified ex-service men and (in certain cases) their widows of cottages and plots provided under the trusts. The intention was primarily to sell to actual occupants at prices...