Somers v W

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 14 February 1979
• Date: 14 February 1979
• Docket Number: [1978 No. 2 Sp.]
• Court: Supreme Court

(S.C.)

Somers

and

W

Requisitions on title - Sale by husband - Wife's consent not obtained - Conveyance void unless purchaser acted in good faith - Whether purchaser made reasonable inquiries - Conveyancing Act, 1882 (45 46 Vict. c. 39), s. 3 - Family Home Protection Act, 1976 (No. 27), ss. 1-4.

Section 3 of the Act of 1976 states that where a spouse, without the prior consent in writing of the other spouse, purports to convey the family home to a third person the conveyance shall be void unless the conveyance is made to a purchaser who acquires the property in good faith and for full value. Section 2 of the Act defines "family home" as including a dwelling in which a spouse ordinarily resides or ordinarily resided before leaving the other spouse. Prior to a certain date in 1973 the defendant lived in the county of Dublin with her husband in his house which he held under a lease. On that date the defendant left the house with her children. On the 2nd August, 1976, the husband contracted to sell the house to the plaintiff for its full value. When the plaintiff's solicitor required the defendant's written consent to the sale, he was informed by the husband's solicitor that the defendant had left the house some years ago and was no longer relying on it as her family home, that the husband was abroad and that the defendant's address was unknown. Having returned to Dublin, the husband on the 16th August, made a statutory declaration in which he stated that the defendant had not relied on the said house as her family home since he and the defendant had separated and that, by virtue of a separation agreement, she had no interest therein. The separation agreement, which was not produced, did not contain any reference to the house. On the 17th August, the plaintiff, relying on the statutory declaration, paid the balance of the purchase money and the husband assigned the house to the plaintiff. When the plaintiff agreed to sell the house in April, 1977, the purchaser insisted on obtaining the defendant's written consent to the sale by her husband. In October, 1977, the plaintiff's solicitor asked the defendant, who was living in Dublin, for her consent to that sale and, when the defendant...