Entrepreneur Paddy McKillen Jr is fighting a legal battle in the commercial court against administrators over the seizure of three valuable Dublin office buildings, which is believed to be linked to millions in unpaid rent.
Perfect Stripe Ltd, trading as Grafter, has brought legal action against Ken Fennell and Brendan O'Reilly of Interpath Advisory, who were appointed joint administrators of three firms that leased properties in Stephen's Green, Leeson Street and Ely Place from Perfect Stripe.
Three companies – Wonderbay Ltd, Crossville Properties Ltd and Discovery Dawn Ltd (all controlled) – are part of the McKillen structure.
Perfect Stripe claims that on the morning of June 23 last year, agents of the management illegally broke into the premises, claiming to have cancelled the leases. The locks were changed and Perfect Stripe and its agents were unable to gain access. The allegation of a break-in has been denied.
The purchase of the buildings was financed primarily through loans from RELM Loan Opportunities DAC, which appointed receivers upon demand for repayment of the loans.
RELM began foreclosing on the loans, and Perfect Stripe claims the foreclosure occurred despite negotiations with the defendants to renegotiate the rent.
The Company believes that all parties are negotiating in good faith and no enforcement action will be taken until the negotiation process is completed.
The defendants alleged that the amount of rent arrears on the properties at the time was approximately €2.7 million for Stephens Green, approximately €321,000 for Ely Place and approximately €530,000 for Leeson Street.
Perfect Stripe's lawsuit alleges that the defendants illegally seized the property “under the guise of demanding inflated amounts in excess of the interest due” under loan agreements.
The lawsuit also alleges that they “unlawfully appropriated the plaintiff's business in order to obtain a higher sale price for the property.”
On Monday, Mr Fennell and Mr O'Reilly, acting as administrators for the three defendants, applied to transfer the case to the fast-track commercial court.
Judge James Doherty, for the defendants, noted that the total outstanding debt was more than €4.1m and the leases had been cancelled and the title deeds foreclosed on around five weeks ago.
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The lawyer said that mediation had been held for a short time but had not been successful. He also said that the defendants' accusation of misappropriation of the business was “baseless”.
The lawyer also disputed a claim by Marcus Dowling, Perfect Stripe's lead attorney, that his client believed the recipients' agents invaded the premises in the middle of the night.
Mr. Dowling
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
