DOC

From Sunday Business Post (19.06.11):

Developer and landlord David Grant will see his former home on Haddington Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 go under the hammer for less than €400,000, a quarter of its original asking price, at the Allsop/Space auction of distressed properties next month.

Number 61 Haddington Road failed to sell at auction in 2006 with an advised minimum value of €1.6 million, but now it’s likely to be sold for about a quarter of the price next month.

The mid-terrace building is being auctioned ‘‘on the instructions of the mortgagee in possession’’ with a reserve not to exceed €395,000, according to the auction catalogue. Grant’s former home is situated on the south side of Haddington Road, just off Baggot Street.

The accommodation is arranged over lower ground, raised ground and first floors beneath a pitched roof. Internally it’s arranged as two-self contained residential units.

It is being sold with vacant possession. In October 2009, the Dublin County Registrar’s Court heard that Grant owed the Bank of Scotland (Ireland) an outstanding balance of just over €1.3 million on a house on Haddington Road, Ballsbridge. The bank was seeking possession of the property on foot of an unpaid mortgage.

Grant was the subject of an RTE Prime Time programme in 2007 that questioned his claim to be an architect. Afterwards he had set up business as Inspire Design in east London.

But in May 2009 he was charged and ordered by Stratford London magistrates court to pay a total of €6,000 in fines and costs for falsely listing himself as an architect in the telephone directory and on his company website.

@GrahamH wrote:

Ha, this is brilliant……..Sean O’Laoire on Vincent Browne employing every trick in the book to avoid stating his opinion on it.

Sean O’Laoire should be in politics! I had to laugh, no matter how much Vincent asked the question, Sean avoided giving an answer twisting and turning the subject.

Can only be!

I know Kieron Wood (the auther of that article). Must give him the lowdown on registration. Can’t imagine Grant is an ‘architect’ any more!

@Paul Clerkin wrote:

How many days before it’s tagged?

…the lyre over the mire…?

Or possibly the little church opposite?

Building without planning permission is a criminal offence – building without submitting a commencement notice is a civil offence (wrap on the knuckles and fine – if the council were to take proceedings – which they are very unlikely to do).

I checked recently with a council on a devepment where planning permission was granted but the developeer didn’t submit a commencement notice or the commencemnet notice was not registered by the council – the council were not in anyway phased or concerned by this.

Hi Section 4

I asked around about this recently as I, as an architect, am attending court soon on a similar issue and wanted to know what was the going rate in terms of charges/fees. Charges also depended on what court you were at. The most concise response I got was as follows:

For the District Court – report € 484.00 – attendance at court € 484.00 – copies of photos € 63.00 – preparation of sketch € 63.00.

For the Circuit Court – report € 890.00 – attendance at court € 690.00 – copies of photos € 90.00 – preparation of sketch € 90.00.

These figures would be exlclude VAT at 21% (I think ?)

Looks like No. 2 sort of tallies with your costs?

You have to remember, while it looks like an excessive charge, there is a huge amount of work that goes on in the background, even from the architects/expert witness side, to get to the court in the first place.

I have gone for an alternative option of just charging an hourly rate for this type of service.