Joint local authority lease dispute - deceased mother's estate vs surviving co-borrower

[Mango2026]

My parents bought a home in Dublin back in 2000 under a local authority shared ownership scheme. My mother’s family put a €50,000 cash lump sum toward the property at some point between 2000 and 2024

My father left the house around 2003 and stopped contributing entirely. For the next 22 years (from 2003 until 2025), my mother lived in the house and paid 100% of the mortgage repayments, local property tax, insurance, and maintenance costs by herself.

In 2025, my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and asked my father if he could pay the remaining mortgage off the house and sign it over to me upon finishing the payments. My father began paying €400 a week off the mortgage in June 2025.

My mother passed away in January 2026. I am an adult child and I live in the house as my primary home. My father is now claiming that because his name is on the joint lease, the entire house belongs to him. He is threatening to sell the house in 2 years and force me out. Can he do this?

 

[ClubMan]

Who holds the house deeds?
What name (names) is (are) on them?
That determines who owns it.
What did your mother's will say about her (co?) ownership of the house?
What lease are you referring to?

 

[POC]

Sorry for your loss.
Were your parents married?
Is there an outstanding mortgage or was there a life insurance policy to pay it off?

 

[Mango2026]

Hi ClubMan and POC, thanks for the replies and condolences.

To answer both of your questions:

• Deeds & Title: The property is registered in both my mother and father as Joint Tenants.
• Will: There is no will (she passed away intestate) and nothing has been started regarding her estate yet.
• Marriage: No, they were not married. He left the house in 2003 and they lived seperately for the next 22 years. My father moved in after her death in 2026.
• Mortgage & Insurance: There is still an outstanding balance on the local authority account (which is why he started paying the €400 a week in mid-2025). There was no life insurance/mortgage protection policy that cleared the balance when she passed.

I understand that under standard property rules (Rule of Survivorship), the surviving joint tenant usually gets the legal title on paper.

However, my core question is about the financial equity behind that paper title. Because my mother's family paid a €50,000 lump sum, and my mother paid the mortgage and bill on her own as far as I know for 22 years while he was entirely absent, does her estate have a strong case for Equitable Accounting or a Resulting Trust?

Even if his name remains on the deed, if he forces a sale, can a court force him to reimburse her estate for the financial equity built up over those 22 years of sole payments?