THE HIGH Court yesterday granted possession of a family home in Dublin to Bank of Scotland (Ireland), even though the owner had paid for the property in full.
The family had purchased the home from fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn, who had given an undertaking to lodge the proceedings of the sale with Bank of Scotland (Ireland). However, the court heard that Mr Lynn had not done this.
The bank advanced Mr Lynn €562,000 in February 2005 to purchase the three-bedroom penthouse apartment in Kilmainham Orchard on Emmet Road, Inchicore. Later that year, Mr Lynn sold the property to the family in question, and they subsequently moved into the property on Christmas Eve 2005.
It wasn’t until November 2007 that the family discovered they would be unable to sell their home, the court heard.
The court was told that the family was unable to use the Law Society’s solicitor compensation fund, which compensates people if their solicitor is found to have acted dishonestly with their money, as Mr Lynn had acted as the vendor and not the family’s solicitor in the case.
Counsel for the plaintiff said it was “not a case of targeting the defendant, we are bleeding all other avenues and have been pursuing Mr Lynn for the last 18 months”.
Counsel said Mr Lynn had caused “very considerable losses for the bank, and while our sympathies are with the defendant, there are two innocent parties losing out; the defendant and us”.
Granting the order of possession with six months stay, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne said “This is a most unfortunate case, it is a sad, sad state of affairs that having purchased the property in 2005, the defendant then found out he had no title to the property and was a victim of fraud. Notwithstanding my very, very great sympathy for the defendant, I must abide by the law,” she added.
The case was one of eight possession orders granted by the High Court at the weekly chancery summonses hearing yesterday.
At the hearing, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne granted a possession order to Springboard mortgages for a family home in which three children under 13 years of age were residing.
The court heard how the current balance outstanding was in excess of the original loan, with arrears lying just under €30,000.
The judge said she had no option but to grant the order on the house, granting stay of four months to the family.
IIB Homeloans were granted possession of a residential investment property, after the house fell into negative equity with arrears of €36,000.
The bank originally granted a loan of €270,000 for the purchase of the house, but the current balance outstanding had risen to €304,000 due to accruing arrears.
The court was told that the property was recently valued at €245,000. While this was not a professional evaluation, it is clear the house was not worth as much as was loaned, the court heard.
In another case, an order was granted to AIB for a residential investment property in Navan, Co Meath. The court heard how the defendant was residing in the US and had not made any contact with the solicitors for three years.
The court was told that attempts to serve notice on the defendant in the case were made by placing notices in the Daily Star, Belfast Telegraph and Miami Herald.
Possession of a property in Virginia, Co Cavan was handed over to Start mortgages after the owners abandoned the property.
The court heard how the first and second named defendants had vacated the premises and moved to Wales and Spain respectively, owing in excess of €317,000 on the property with arrears of €34,215. A total of 45 applications for possession orders were listed before yesterday’s hearing.