Mortgage arrears rose to €116,000 in two years

A CO Limerick couple accrued mortgage arrears of more than €116,000 in just two years, the High Court heard yesterday.

The husband and wife now owe €511,911.78 on a €390,000 mortgage which they took out in June 2008 to buy a family home.

The mortgage was given by sub-prime lender Stepstone Mortgages at an APR of 11.11 per cent over 40 years with monthly repayments of €3,465.42. The accumulated payments would have amounted to €1.67 million over the lifetime of the mortgage.

Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne granted an order for possession, with a stay of six months, after hearing the couple have only made two payments, one in August 2008 and the other in October this year. The total amounts were €5,700.

An order for possession was granted to Bank of Ireland against a couple who bought a pub in Co Meath for €1.1 million in July 2002.

Michael and Helen McConnell have debts approaching €1.2 million in relation to the Julianstown Inn in Julianstown, Co Meath.

Ms Justice Dunne was told the only payment this year was for €6,300 in March 2010. The judge put a six months’ stay on the order for possession and said it would be in everybody’s best interest if it could be sold as a going concern.

The owners of a property in Co Galway which was damaged in last year’s floods say they would need €45,000 to make their home habitable again.

The court was told that the separated couple had arrears of €44,000 on an original mortgage of €360,000 from Woodchester Finance and the total outstanding was now €394,000. He is unemployed and she is living in England. Ms Justice Dunne said the proposal to spend €45,000 on a property which might only be worth €250,000 now would be “throwing good money after bad”.

She adjourned the matter of a possession until February.