EIGHTEEN PROPERTY repossessions were granted at the High Court yesterday, the highest number granted in a single week this year.
The figure equals the highest number granted by the High Court in a single week in 2009.
A separated father and his six children from Co Wicklow were among the families affected. They had hoped to hold on to their home, but their plan fell through when Wicklow County Council, after expressing interest in 2009, decided they would not purchase the property.
Mr Justice Brian McGovern granted 18 orders for possession yesterday including 10 to subprime lender Start Mortgages Ltd. Other lenders who received orders were Stepstone Mortgage Funding Ltd, Bank of Ireland, Danske Bank and GE Capital Woodchester Home Loans Ltd.
Eight of the properties repossessed had already been abandoned by their owners; of these three couples were believed to have moved abroad. Seven of the orders related to family homes.
In a case involving Start Mortgages, counsel for the lender told the court a Wicklow couple had taken out a mortgage of €215,000 in 2005, but had fallen behind with their payments.
They had separated, with the mother leaving the family home and the father remaining with their six children, all under 18. The arrears were €52,000 and though legal proceedings began in 2008, the lender had held off on repossession because Wicklow County Council had sent a letter saying they were interested in purchasing the property, counsel said.
It would have provided a solution for the family who could have stayed in their home as council tenants and paid rent. However, the local authority wrote at the end of May to say it was no longer interested in buying the home.
Mr Justice McGovern said he thought the family would have a better chance of being rehoused by the local authority if he did not put a stay, or delay, on the order for possession. But he insisted the lender give an undertaking not to take possession of the property for six months.
“His situation shouldn’t be interfered with or upset in the short term. I don’t want a man looking after six children to be put out on the side of the street,” he said.
In a separate case taken by Start Mortgages that also involved marriage breakdown, the court was told a mother and her three children were living in the family home in a rural town in east Galway, but the father had moved out.
Their mortgage payments had fallen behind and there was now €60,000 due in arrears. When the lender contacted the father, he said he would make payments on condition he could move back into the house and his wife moved out.
Mr Justice McGovern said it would be very unfortunate if a party was not paying money that ought to be paid and he was using that to get back into the property, but he conceded there was nothing he could do about it.
“It would be unfortunate if the children were to be affected by the difficulties of their parents,” he said. He adjourned the case on the basis of a technical difficulty with the paperwork.
