High Court grants repossession orders against 14 properties

FOURTEEN HOME repossessions were granted at the High Court yesterday, including one against a widow who had not contacted the lender since her husband died.

Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne was told that the administrator to the estate of a man who died in 2008 had given consent for the repossession of his home in Kilkenny. His wife, who was living in the property, had “not engaged at all”.

The court heard the man had taken out a loan with Start Mortgages in 2005 for €256,000 and at the time he was single.

He subsequently married and after he died, in August 2008, the loan went into arrears and now stood at €52,000.

Ms Justice Dunne said she was concerned that the woman “hasn’t engaged in any shape or form”. It was understandable if in the aftermath of the death of her husband she had not engaged with the lender, but he died in 2008 and “there was still no contact from her”.

She granted an order for possession with a stay of six months on its implementation.

In a second case involving Start Mortgages, the court was told a woman who was widowed had borrowed €50,000 to complete the purchase of her home in 2006, bought just after her husband had died. The repayments were relatively small, of €340 a month, but she had fallen into arrears and the woman now owed over €60,000.

The case had been before the courts 26 times in three years, counsel for the lender said. The woman had made some intermittent payments when she received occasional bar work, but she was not now in employment, counsel said.

Ms Justice Dunne said the lender had given her “great leeway” and had not “pushed the matter hard” but “ultimately the time comes when it has to be faced up to,” she said.

She granted the order for possession with a stay of six months.

Another property was also repossessed yesterday on foot of a small mortgage.

In a case taken by Ulster Bank, the court heard a man borrowed €61,000 in 2000 on a property in Co Limerick. He fell into arrears in 2003 and the case had been adjourned 13 times. His arrears now stood at €17,815, some 40 per cent of the balance due, counsel for the lender said.

The borrower had made several and repeated promises to put a regular direct debit into place, but had failed to do so. Although the amount involved was “not huge” the lender’s “patience was exhausted”.

Ms Justice Dunne said it was not unrealistic to bring “finality and reality” to the matter. She granted the order, also with a stay of six months.

AIB was granted five orders for possession yesterday, all on investment properties or land.

Start Mortgages also received five, all on borrowers’ homes. Ulster Bank, KBC Mortgage Bank, EBS and Bank of Scotland received one each; the first loans were for homes while the latter were for investment or commercial purposes.