Prospective buyers of luxury Belfast apartments who have since been hit by the recession and are unable to go ahead with their purchase agreement have been thrown a legal lifeline.

CMG Solicitors Belfast, acting for a number of buyers in the city's Titanic Quarter apartment scheme, has welcomed a landmark legal decision that affects ongoing disputes between property developers and prospective purchasers.

In a decision issued in the High Court, Mr Justice Deeny, in the case of Titanic Quarter Limited v Neil Rowe, dismissed the developer's application for specific performance of the contract on the grounds of 'impossibility'.

Neil Rowe, from Belfast, agreed in 2007 to buy a flat at the Abercorn complex, but the judge ruled: "I am satisfied that the defendant, unemployed and without any significant assets, has, at the least, a clearly arguable case that it is impossible for him to perform this contract to purchase an apartment.

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"I refuse the decree of specific performance sought by the vendor."

The contract between Neil Rowe and the developer was entered into on 5th July 2007 at the height of the property boom.

Having since been made unemployed and unable to secure finance to complete the sale, Mr Rowe, was subsequently taken to court by the developer to seek an order for 'specific performance of the contract'.

Brian Speers, of CMG Solicitors, who represented Mr. Rowe, said: "Our client accepted there was a binding contract of sale and that he was in breach of his obligations under the contract.

"Following this Judgement the developer should now enter discussions to resolve the remaining issues.

"While we had tried to achieve this one year ago we welcome the opportunity now available to discuss constructive and imaginative solutions for Mr Rowe and many other purchasers in the same position as him," he said.

CMG Solicitors also represent purchasers in a number of other developments who find themselves in a similar situation.

They had previously made public calls for mediation to resolve the issues at the heart of disputes between developers and their purchasers - particularly in cases where purchasers were unable to secure finance to allow him to fulfil the terms of the contract.

Brian Speers of CMG, who led the team acting on behalf of Mr. Rowe, said: "Our client was never trying to get out of what he knew was a legal obligation, but, if the banks wouldn't grant him a mortgage because he had been made unemployed then clearly he could not complete the purchase?"

(BMcC/GK)