A teacher and her estranged husband yesterday settled an action against a bank in which they had sought a court order allowing them to sell their home, once worth €525,000, for €150,000.
Caroline and Robert Carass had asked the Circuit Civil Court to force Irish Life and Permanent plc (Permanent TSB) to allow the sale so they could reduce their current mortgage debt from €484,000. The bank had objected to the sale.
Ms Carass had told Judge Jacqueline Linnane that she and her husband had almost doubled the initial mortgage on the house and had given her father €240,000 for a building site he had never transferred into their name.
The couple claimed that under the 2009 Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act, the court could direct the bank to vacate its right under the mortgage to hold on to the former family home at Hunters Walk, Ballycullen, Dublin, as the only asset against the loan.
John Ferry, for the Carasses, said they had an offer of €150,000. After brief talks yesterday, he told the court the case could be struck out.