David Hall predicts 20,000 Irish homes will be repossessed over next six years

David Hall, the mortgage debtor advocate, expects 20,000 homes to be repossessed by banks or so-called vulture funds over the next six years.

“I think we’re into about six more years of this and it’s all over by the time the vulture funds start doing repossessions,” Mr Hall told Inside Business, a podcast with The Irish Times.

Mr Hall was a co-founder of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation, a not-for-profit body set up post the 2008 financial crash to help those in mortgage arrears to restructure their loans and remain in their homes.

Earlier this month, in the wake of Ulster Bank announcing plans to sell €900 million worth of residential loans that are deep in arrears, Mr Hall said a tsunami of repossessions was coming in Ireland.

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He told the podcast that the IMHO would establish a “dedicated insolvency office...as most of the loans [in arrears] have gone to vulture funds now”.

This will involve the IMHO having dedicated staff managing debts and loans under the current State framework for insolvency arrangements.

“The restructures that the banks offered, the vulture funds simply don’t offer them. We are going to start having a lot more insolvency arrangements, which is the only way to tackle vulture funds, which they don’t like.”

Mr Hall said the IMHO has 2,636 mortgage arrears cases on its books, and he expects “half” of those will lose their homes. Over what timeframe? “For as long as we can drag it out,” he said.