A HOMEOWNER who made no mortgage repayments for five years accrued more than half a million euro in arrears, the High Court has heard.
The owner of the property on Pembroke Road in Dublin yesterday surrendered it to Start Mortgages on the basis he could not meet his debts, which had amounted to €2 million.
The case was one of five at the weekly chancery summonses hearing in which repossession orders were granted. A further order for possession was renewed after the defendant began defaulting on repayments again.
The original possession order was granted to Bank of Ireland for the defendant’s farm in February 2005 but as payments were being made, the order was never executed. However, the payments had since ceased.
In another case involving Start Mortgages, the defendants, a Tipperary couple, had drawn down a loan of €350,000 in January 2007 as a remortgage for a property in Clonmel.
The couple ran into arrears less than two years later, with arrears now standing at €59,000. The last payment they made was in April 2011 for €1,000 out of a monthly repayment of €1,500 due.
Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne noted “there have been payments from time to time but these have gone nowhere towards dealing with arrears”. As the property was a family home, she put a stay of six months on the possession order.
An order for possession was also granted to Leeds Building Society on consent of the defendants. A loan of €510,000 was drawn down in January 2009 for the property on Clanbrassil Street in 2008 but, following a number of missed payments, arrears of €25,886 had accrued. A stay of three months was granted.
Granting an adjournment to Martins Construction in another case, Ms Justice Dunne said: “In practical terms, if someone is trying to deal with the matter, my view is they should be facilitated.”
The case heard the defendants had recently made payments of €100,000 and the amount still outstanding was down to €200,000 as a result.
The case was one of 67 adjourned at the chancery summonses hearing pending a decision by Ms Justice Dunne next week. The decision is due in a legal challenge taken by New Beginnings, a group of lawyers and business people who have been working without fees for homeowners in the process of losing their property.
The issues raised include whether mortgage lenders were entitled to summary possession orders claimed under section 62.7 of the Registration of Title Act 1964, given that the Act had been repealed by section 8 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009.
In another adjourned case, the defendant told the court he was looking for more time so he could redevelop his property in the Burren as a tourist attraction.
The court heard he owed ACC upwards of €400,000 on the loan, with arrears as of last summer amounting to €88,000.