A COUPLE lost their seven-year legal battle with the Government over a €4,000 first-time buyers grant yesterday, but they will not have to pay legal fees of up to €150,000 as previously expected.
Don and Tara Ellis rushed to purchase their €180,000 house in Glanmire, Co Cork, in 2002 when they discovered the Government was scrapping the grant on November 14th of the same year.
However, they were refused the grant on the basis that their application was made too late.
They won their Circuit Court action earlier this year but the State appealed and in the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Bryan McMahon ruled in favour of the State.
Speaking from their home in Glanmire last night, the couple said they were feeling “numb” and claimed they were left paying for someone else’s mistake.
“We are extremely disappointed, obviously, but there is nothing we can do, we have no other avenues to go down now. We have tried everything, but the reality is that we are left paying for someone else’s mistake,” Mr Ellis said.
While lawyers for the Departments of Finance said they would not be pursuing the legal costs, the couple, who are expected their third child in January, still face significant legal bills of their own.
“I have no idea what the bill will amount to in the end, I couldn’t event think about that now . . . I don’t know how much it’s going to cost we will just have to wait and see,” Mr Ellis said.
In the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice McMahon found that a contract of purchase for the house was not entered into before the November deadline, prompting him to rule in favour of the State.
But Mr Ellis maintained that the delay in submitting documentation required for the grant was not the couple’s fault.
“We bought the house at Heathview in Glanmire in 2002 and thought that getting the grant would be a formality.
“During the case, we flagged this problem of the paperwork delay, we knew it existed but the fault was not on our side. Everything we submitted was done properly and everything was done in order,” he said.
Mr Ellis said he was relieved the epic seven year battle for a grant worth €4,000 was over. “I’m glad its finished, I’m sick to death of it, we’re left footing the bill for a mistake that was not our fault.
“To be honest we just want to draw a line under it now and try to focus on the future,” he said.