The owner of a listed building in Dublin has undertaken before the High Court not to use it as a guesthouse or hostel after neighbours took proceedings against him.
Justin Malone yesterday agreed before Mr Justice Paul Butler to return the use of 44 Pembroke Road, described as his principal residence, to a single family residence in accordance with its planning permission.
The undertaking was given in proceedings brought by neighbours Mark Duffy and Edward Fox, who live at numbers 42 and 40 respectively, who claimed the listed building has been turned into a hostel for short-term accommodation.
The neighbours sought an order requiring Mr Malone to cease this use and also to remove alterations, including the installation of en-suite facilities in most of the rooms. They also sought the removal of a chalet structure from the back garden which they claimed was being used for habitation. Mr Justice Butler was told yesterday that agreement had been reached between the parties but some of the detail would have to be worked out.
The judge was told Mr Malone was prepared to give an undertaking to restore the use of the house to a single family dwelling subject to the outcome of an application to retain certain works he had carried out there, which is due for a decision shortly. He was prepared to remove the chalet structure without delay.
Mr Duffy and Mr Fox said that, like their own homes, number 44 was given permission for alterations in 2003, with a condition that it be for "single family use." However, when it was bought by Mr Malone, some eight or nine rooms were made available for short-term rent, including two reception rooms on the ground floor, they said. Mr Duffy said people frequently knocked on the door of his home seeking accommodation, having mistaken it for number 44.
He also claimed a boundary wall had been interfered with as part of works at number 44.
Mr Malone, in a replying affidavit, said number 44 was his "principal private residence" and that he rented out no more than four of the rooms to overnight guests, which was permissible under planning laws. He denied it was necessary for him to have a fire safety certificate.
The house was previously let out as 12 bedsits before he bought it and any internal alterations were of a minor nature and reversible, he said. He denied the chalet in the rear garden was an inhabited building and said it was used as a garden store with a toilet "for service use only".
Mr Justice Butler, who said he found a claim by Mr Malone that he used the house as a single-family residence to be "incredible", adjourned the case to next Tuesday when the parties will have prepared a written order for the court to approve.