Victoria Square apartments: Woman with terminal cancer wants day in court

Denise Patrick wants a day in court over apartments deemed defective at Victoria Square in Belfast

A woman with terminal cancer, who had to leave her apartment at Belfast's Victoria Square when it was deemed defective, has called for Stormont to change the law quickly so she can have her day in court.

Owners of the apartments were told to evacuate the building in 2019.

Their bid for compensation was struck out by a High Court judge last week.

Denise Patrick, 68, fears she will not live to see a new case for compensation go to trial.

That would require legislative change. In England and Wales, owners of properties that are found to be defective have 30 years to make a claim.

Such claims must be made within six years of a building being completed in Northern Ireland.

Ruling on Wednesday, Mr Justice Huddleston said he appreciated there was "a lot of human pain involved in this action", but that he had to apply the law as he found it.

The builders of the apartments, which opened in 2008, Farrans and Gilbert and Ash, along with architects involved in the building, have denied any liability.

Denise Patrick said she is "begging" politicians to enable her to have her day in court - but if she is not alive to see that day, she asked that her interview given to BBC's Good Morning Ulster on Monday be played to the court.

"I don't know how much longer I have and death takes a lot of things from us but it will not steal my story," she said.

Ms Patrick asked to "use this so that I can be in court and let them face me and tell me why - because we didn't build these, we didn't do this".

"This is not our fault," she said.

Owners of the Victoria Square apartments deemed defective in Belfast had their bid for compensation struck out on Wednesday

Residents were told to vacate the building in April 2019 "immediately for safety reasons" due to "a serious structural issue".

Cracks had started appearing in the walls.

Despite being unable to return to their properties, they have continued having to pay rates, buildings insurance, a service charge, and in some cases, mortgage payments.

Denise, who spoke from the home she is now having to rent, said being forced to move out and the long legal battle since has caused her cancer to worsen.

"I think the right thing to do is to have this in court," she said.

"I want those, everybody who was involved - who designed [the Victoria Square apartments deemed defective], who built it, who signed it off - to be in court so that we can question them and we can get those answers.

"I want truth honesty, justice, the integrity and that's why my story is there now.

"I'm not going to tug on their heart strings because I don't think there is a heart.

"I just want you to know that this has impacted me. You didn't cause the cancer but you exacerbated my cancer.'

'Complex matters'

Ms Patrick, was a headteacher in London before coming to live in Belfast after her retirement, said some of the ways the issue had been handled were shameful - including residents having to continue to pay rates for apartments they could not live in.

When the owners of the Victoria Square apartments called for politicians to act, there was some confusion over which Stormont department held responsibility for this issue.

But Communities Minister Gordon Lyons confirmed his department would take on responsibility.

After the High Court ruling last week, he said: "I have spoken with [Daera] Minister Muir in relation to the Defective Premises Order and agreed the transfer of functions to my department, subject to executive and assembly approval.

"These are complex matters.

"We have agreed to meet again next week to further consider the process of policy development and consultation to update the legislation."

The Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald said she had met with Land and Property Services on Thursday to discuss rates on the apartments deemed defective.