High Court grants 13 repossession orders

SOME 13 orders for possession were granted by the High Court yesterday, including one against a Kilkenny couple who have six children.

GE Capital Woodchester Home Loans Ltd applied for repossession of a family home in Kilkenny after the owners fell into arrears.

The court was told the couple, who were not present or represented, had borrowed €125,000 to purchase their home early in 2007. By November that year they had begun to default on repayments and now have arrears of €18,000. They are both unemployed.

Counsel for the lender said they received a telephone call from “the wife” in January saying she would send €88 a week from mortgage interest supplement payments but the money had not been received. “She hasn’t been forwarding it on,” he said.

“She probably can’t afford to,” Mr Justice Brian McGovern said. He said there was nothing he could do but accede to the application.

He granted the order for possession with a six-month stay, or delay, to allow for the children to move schools if necessary.

In a second case involving GE Capital, two brothers appeared in court to plead for more time to hold on to their home in Longford.

They purchased it in 2008 with a loan of €243,000.

Their repayments were €1,400 a month but since they lost their jobs, one as a courier and the other as a factory operative, they had fallen behind.

Since July they had been paying €350 a month and their arrears stood at more than €36,000.

They told the court they had moved back into their parents’ home because they could not afford to live in their property but they did not want to lose the money they had put into it.

One brother said they hoped to get good jobs soon. “The likelihood of that happening is very remote,” the judge said.

“So I lose everything?” the young man asked.

They were not alone, the judge responded. He granted the order for possession with a six-month stay. As is normal he awarded costs to the lender but said it was like “adding insult to injury”.

He refused AIB an order for possession after the borrower said he was negotiating to have his loan rescheduled. The judge adjourned the case until mid-March.