A MORTGAGE holder who owes €52,000 on a family home was being charged legal fees of €18,000, the High Court has heard.
Counsel for the mortgage holder told the weekly chancery summonses hearing that €70,000 was owed on the family home, made up of a debt for €40,000, interest of €12,000 and the remainder in legal fees.
Pleading for more time, she said the defendant had €10,000 with her in court, and there was “very significant equity in the family home” worth in the region of €200,000 to €300,000.
An application for a possession order by the plaintiff was rejected by Mr Justice John MacMenamin, who adjourned the case on the grounds that two bank drafts amounting to €5,000 each had been brought to court.
The judge also said he would be awarding costs at Circuit Court level, in cases that could have been brought to the lower court.
Two orders for possession were granted at yesterday’s hearing, both on consent of the defendant. In one case, the court heard how arrears of €40,000 had accrued as a result of 10 missed payments.
As the property was occupied by tenants, the judge directed a translated letter be sent to them informing them of the court proceedings.
All but two of the 50 applications listed before yesterday’s hearing were adjourned either on consent or to give defendants more time to sell their properties or to come to an agreement with the lending institution.
In one case, involving a Co Galway property on which €300,000 was owed, the judge adjourned the application by Start mortgages to give the defendants one last chance. After hearing repayments were 14 months in arrears, the judge directed a letter be sent to the defendants warning them “the matter will inevitably proceed next week”.
