Bid to substitute lender in repossession case against Twink struck out

A bid by Bank of Scotland to substitute Start Mortgages as the applicant in re-possession proceedings for the home of Adele Condron-King, otherwise known as Twink, was struck out by a judge on Wednesday.

For the past two years Bank of Scotland has been seeking to re-possess Idrone House, Idrone Avenue, Knocklyon, Dublin 16 but Judge Jacqueline Linnane was told the loan had been sold on by the bank to Start Mortgages.

The lender asked the Circuit Civil Court to amend re-possession proceedings against Condron-King and her estranged husband, David Agnew, to show Start Mortgages as the plaintiff and mortgage loan owner instead of Bank of Scotland.

Counsel for Bank of Scotland told Judge Linnane that both Ms King and Mr Agnew were on notice of the bank's application but said none of them had turned up to court.

The court heard that the bank had already obtained an order from Dublin County Registrar Rita Considine against Mr Agnew to serve him with papers about the proceedings at his place of work.

Mr Agnew’s name remains with Ms King’s on the mortgage as jointly responsible for the loan and Ms Considine had been told in earlier proceedings that there had been difficulty in serving Mr Agnew.

Counsel for the bank told the court that Ms King had been served with notice of the proceedings by registered letter mailed to her on October 29th last. Judge Linnane said that was not allowing Ms King enough time to respond.

The judge also said that an affidavit seeking to transfer Start Mortgages onto the proceedings as the new plaintiff had been sworn by a solicitor acting for Bank of Scotland.

“The loan and security transfer have been signed on to Start Mortgages and neither Bank of Scotland or the solicitor acting for them has the necessary status to bring this application,” Judge Linnane said.

The judge struck out Bank of Scotland’s application for change of title of the proceedings.

In papers which Bank of Scotland had already served against Ms King it was stated in a grounding affidavit that as of August 2013 the bank was owed €244,000 including just over €11,600 arrears at that time.

The court was not told if the amount of the loan or the arrears had been reduced, or had increased, since the 2013 date.