High Court grants nine orders for possession

NINE ORDERS for possession were granted at the High Court yesterday, including one against a Co Laois man who said the stress of his financial difficulties had given him a heart attack.

The man and his wife, from Portlaoise, had borrowed €253,000 from Start Mortgages in 2007 to purchase their home at a cost of €340,000. It was recently valued at €180,000. The couple fell behind with their repayments and now owe arrears of more than €100,000.

The court was told the couple had entered into various repayment arrangements with the lender, but had failed to keep them up.

Counsel for the couple Andrew Robinson, part of volunteer advocacy group New Beginning, told Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne the couple had been managing to repay €250 every week to the lender as part of one arrangement.

But the lender had insisted they change back to a monthly repayment of €1,000 and because the couple were in a “delicate financial position” they could not manage to budget for it.

He said the husband had two heart attacks and he asked the judge to adjourn the case pending the outcome of a medical appointment next month.

He also said New Beginning had come up with a proposal to help people in mortgage arrears and he wanted an opportunity to put it to the lender.

The judge pointed out that the amount now owed was more than had been borrowed originally and that the case had been adjourned 18 times.

She granted the order, but gave a nine-month stay of execution on the order to give the couple, who have three grown-up children, “an opportunity to deal with matters”.

She also gave the couple leave to apply for an extension of the stay if they entered an arrangement with the lender within three months and kept up the payments.

Speaking afterwards, the couple said they were hopeful they could hold on to their home.

The husband said he had a heart attack 20 minutes after getting off the phone to Start Mortgages. A member of staff had been shouting at him, he said.

He claimed the lender had been ringing him three or four times a day and there had been threatening letters.

But the calls ceased after he began to be represented by New Beginning.

“The main benefit of New Beginning was to take the pressure away, the phone calls and the threats,” he said.

Ms Justice Dunne granted nine orders for possession yesterday: three to Start Mortgages, two to ACC Bank and AIB Mortgage Bank respectively and one each to Ulster Bank and Stepstone Mortgage Funding.

Three of the cases involved family homes with three children in each.

In the case of one of the families, the court was told there was a considerable level of primary and secondary debt.

The family, from Drogheda, Co Louth, had borrowed €248,000 in 2007 and now owed almost €300,000.

Ms Justice Dunne noted the couple had made some efforts, but the arrears had got bigger and bigger with every passing month. The property was now valued at only €150,000, she said. She granted the order with a stay of nine months.