Teacher living in Costa del Sol in deal on Dublin apartment arrears

An Irish schoolteacher living on the Costa del Sol while renting out her Dublin apartment, has made a deal with her bank over an arrears debt on her mortgage, the Circuit Civil Court has heard.

Judge Jacqueline Linnane was told Audrey Spearing, of Guadalmina, San Pedro, Malaga, had been living in Spain for the last six years and renting out her apartment at Adamstown Avenue, Dublin, for €800 a month.

Barrister Tomas Keys, counsel for Permanent TSB, told the court that since last October, when the bank had sought possession of the apartment on foot of €18,000 mortgage arrears, Ms Spearing had significant engagement with the bank.

He said that while no payments had been made, Ms Spearing had indicated she was willing to begin making payments and the bank was agreeing to a three-month adjournment to allow them to commence.

Earlier, the court had been told by Ms Spearing, who legally represented herself, that she was a sports and physical training teacher in Spain but had lost her job last summer.

She said that before her job loss she had been sending home up to €600 a month to meet the difference between rental income from the apartment and the €1,400 monthly mortgage repayment.

Mr Keys told Judge Linnane there was an outstanding liability of more than €275,000 against the apartment and the-then County Registrar had granted the bank possession of the property but had put a stay on the order.

He told the court Ms Spearing had informed the bank she had rented the apartment to new occupants just before Christmas. The new tenants had been served notice of the court proceedings.

Judge Linnane, who had heard Ms Spearing had not paid anything towards the mortgage since April last year, extended execution of the order for possession and adjourned the proceedings until April 15th.

Last October, Ms Spearing had said she hoped to save her apartment from possession and gave an undertaking to the bank to meet its representatives for discussions about the arrears and mortgage repayments.