# Ground rent



## machalla (6 May 2005)

Perhaps someone can advise me on this.  I just got a note in the door from someone in Athlone (Noel O'Gara) who claims that the I as the owner of my house owe him a sum of money for ground rent (which apparently hadn't been paid since 1987 although I only purchased it last year)?  

I am pretty certain that the solicitor who dealt with our purchase of the house ensured that the the house was freehold before we accepted the purchase as she was adamant that any outside interests be settled by the sellers before we signed the final contracts.

I may be mixed up here so if anyone can advise me as to whether this is genuine or just another scammer chancing his luck (as it seems to me) I would be grateful for the advice.  

Thanks for any help that people can offer.


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## oysterman (6 May 2005)

Straight on to your solicitor, machalla.

This is what you paid her the big bucks for.


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## machalla (6 May 2005)

Yep, I have and shes not available till next week unfortunately.  I thought it very odd anyway.  Its not a large sum of money but as far as I'm concerned and am aware the house and the land its on is mine with no room for argument.  

Its amusing that the end of the handwritten letter is some attempt to coerce me into buying out the freehold "your house is your most valuable asset, why not avail of this opportunity to buy out the freehold?".

To me it looks dubious.

I'm curious if anyone else has had some similar experience?


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## Vanilla (6 May 2005)

Can't tell you without seeing your title, Machalla- FYI its perfectly acceptable to buy a property where the ground rents aren't bought out. Only your solicitor can advise you as she will have copies of your title.


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## machalla (6 May 2005)

Thanks for the info Vanilla.  I think its one for the solicitor really as she pointed out to me that the property had a short lease on it (well relatively) but she would insist that it be bought out as freehold before the sale would go through.

So unless the info has not been updated or someone else is now claiming title to the ground.  

Thanks again for that.


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## Fly (6 May 2005)

Exact same thing happened to us and in fact the letter was so badly written (and nearly threatening!) that we presumed it was a scam.  I rang the Land REgistry just to be sure and it was actually legit.

You can buy out this company for approx €150 plus solicitors fees if you want to and the Land registry were pretty helpful in guiding us through that so far.

www.landregistry.ie  Ph: 01 6707500

Good luck!


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## tiger (6 May 2005)

Reminds me I must do the same with my place...

From my initial investigations, I think it's the same O'Gara estates (in Athlone?).  Didn't find him particularly friendly on the phone.

Note that the most he can ask for is the previous 5 years, even if before that hasn't been paid.  The land registry link is good, I rang them, found them helpful & they sent out the documentation promptly  (relatively cheap also, as the previous post indicates)


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## ClubMan (6 May 2005)

Is  about ground rent of any interest in this context?


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## machalla (7 May 2005)

Thanks for all the info, all of you.  This is exactly what I needed to get some idea of what this is about.

If the freehold had been bought out on the property apparently ground rent doesn't apply according to the Oasis link.

"Owning the freehold interest in a property means that you own the land and buildings (if any) outright. There is no period of years attached to the ownership. Ground rent does not affect freehold property."

Since I was assured this was bought out I see no reason to be liable for any ground rent (especially since I didn't even own the place in the previous years). 

This O'Gara person is trying to claim the ground rent back till 1987 on the property and makes no mention of the fact that even if he were entitled to it he can only get the previous 5 years rent as tiger mentioned.  

Thanks once again.


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## ClubMan (7 May 2005)

As mentioned above the Land Registry website also has some information that might be of interest to you.


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## machalla (9 May 2005)

Just to round this up.  I checked with solicitor and she told me the freehold was  purchased before sale of house and passed on to us in the sale so this ground rent issue has no relevance to us it seems (as I thought).  

It is interesting that this O'Gara person would claim to have the ground rent on the property even though it is freehold (and has been for over a year now).


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## Mad Finn (12 Sep 2006)

Very interesting indeed where this O'Gara character pops up. So he's a ground rent speculator as well as somebody who wants to ruin one of Dublin's most beautiful publicly accessible parks. 

And very interesting that he occasionally (at the very least) claims ground rent on land that is not properly his. 

Anybody had any more helpful letters from him? They could be very interesting in the context of the current news story about Dartmouth Square.


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## damson (3 Oct 2006)

Seems that besides the square itself, Mr O'Gara also has ownership of some of the ground rents for houses in Dartmouth Square.


> Well-heeled residents of Dublin's Dartmouth Square have a landlord they didn't know about. Westmeath businessman Noel O'Gara has revealed that he is the owner of the ground rent attached to about 20 properties which means that, if one is sold, he's entitled to a cut of the proceeds. Mr O'Gara, who says he bought his interest in the houses "for a song", stands to make hundreds of thousands of euro if there are any sales of the properties or part of the sites... The controversial property speculator, who came to the public's attention earlier this year when it emerged he purchased Dartmouth Square park for less than €10,000, bought the ground rents six years ago... Mr O'Gara says he might consider sending out bills for back rent to residents already furious at his actions in relation to the park.


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## cjh (3 Oct 2006)

Mr O'Gara appeared in yesterdays (2nd oct) Independent ([broken link removed]) and the Irish Times (www.irishtimes.com). I didn't read the articles, but they may have some information of help to you.


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