HOMEOWNERS AND investors who cannot keep up with their mortgage repayments are abandoning their properties, the High Court has heard, as the number of repossessions continues to rise.
Banks and mortgage lenders were yesterday granted possession of properties in almost one third of cases listed before the High Court’s weekly chancery summonses hearing. Four of the 11 orders for possession granted concerned abandoned properties.
Start Mortgages were granted possession of two abandoned properties in Tuam, Co Galway, and an abandoned home in Castletroy Co Limerick which had been bought for use as a Bed and Breakfast.
In November 2006, the mortgage lender advanced a loan of €793,400 for the purchase of the home, which was intended for operation as a BB. Mortgage repayments were made until December 2007, when the property was abandoned.
Counsel for the mortgage lender said it was believed the defendant had returned to South Africa, where she had lived previously.
Arrears of €124,263 had accrued on the mortgage, and “third parties had been gaining entry to the property and using it for the purpose of drug taking,” the court was told.
The court heard the whereabouts of the owners of the Tuam properties was also unknown. In excess of €220,000 had been advanced by Start for the purchase of a family home and a residential investment premises. The last payment in respect of both was €500 in June 2008 and both were in considerable arrears.
Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne also granted an order of possession to IIB homeloans in relation to an abandoned property.
The defendants were advanced €365,000 to purchase the property in January 2007. However, since May of that year, only sporadic repayments had been received by the lender, and the property was subsequently abandoned, with in excess of €383,000 outstanding on the loan.
GE Capital Woodchester were granted possession of a house in Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare, after arrears of €6,399.59 accrued, causing the total outstanding balance to exceed the original loan.
The mortgage was entered into on May 1st, 2007, after the defendant was advanced €112,500 to purchase the house, with default on repayments occurring that same month. Over €117,000 is now outstanding on the loan.
The current value of the house is €145,000, which means very little money would be left over for the defendant once costs are taken into account and the indebtedness discharged, Ms Justice Dunne said.
Counsel for the plaintiff rejected repayment proposals by the defendant, saying “the defendant has made a number of broken promises including an undertaking to pay €100 per week toward mortgage repayments, which he never followed through on”.
Granting an order of possession with stay of four months, Ms Justice Dunne said “direct debits were regularly returned unpaid and there is a history of default since the mortgage was entered into”.
A possession order was also granted to Bank of Scotland (Ireland), after a substantial number of direct debits were returned unpaid, with just three monthly repayments discharged in 2007.
The court heard the apartment located by Dublin’s Phoenix Park, had a market value of €280,000, despite being purchased for €473,000. The owner had worked as a taxi driver but was involved in a traffic collision and was unable to work since. Granting the order for the two-bedroom apartment in Castleknock, Ms Justice Dunne said the “defendant had no doubt fallen on hard times”.