The troubled Clonmannon Retirement Village, near Ashford, in Co Wicklow, is back on the market after almost three years of legal dispute between residents and the owners, Roddy and Jane McGrath.

The Georgian house on 24 acres, along with the freehold interest in 39 retirement bungalows and a proposed nursing home site, will be sold by tender through McNally Handy & Partners, which expects it to fetch in excess of £1.5 million. Five other bungalows, currently vacant, are included in the sale.

The property is being sold as a going concern with the majority of the bungalows occupied by retired people who have the use of part of the basement of the main house. However, as the McGraths are being sued by six residents and former residents of the complex on the issue of care contracts, new owners will inherit a pending High Court case.

Although this could prove a major deterrent to buyers, the potential to develop the complex as a full nursing home, which would carry valuable tax allowances, may appeal both to investors and nursing home operators. Built in the 1780s, Clonmannon House is a superb Georgian two-storey over basement house of approximately 12,000 sq ft, with many of its original features intact.

The McGraths, who intended to live in the house after they bought the complex in 1996, restored it to a high standard and it is now in walk-in condition. It has eight bedrooms, three fine reception rooms, four bathrooms, and two kitchens. The basement level, which services the retirement homes, has four reception rooms, a large kitchen, along with offices and staff quarters. The grounds include a two-acre site, which has been earmarked for a nursing home. Clonmannon Village opened in 1984 and consisted of 46 bungalows for retired people in the grounds of the house. It has since gone through receivership and liquidation and has been in the hands of three owners, the most recent being the McGraths.

The McGraths' decision to live in Clonmannon led to a split among residents. Also contributing to the split was a decision by the McGraths to introduce new care contracts which dispensed with many of the facilities provided under the original contracts.

Three of the residents and three former residents, who are apparently unhappy with arrangements, have instituted the court case which is shortly to be heard by the High Court.