Order granted against couple whose house has lost €475,000 in value

A COUPLE with five children who had an order for possession granted against them yesterday were offered €225,000 for their home, which was valued at almost €700,000 in 2007.

The Co Monaghan couple had remortgaged their home with Stepstone Mortgage Funding Ltd four years ago when difficulties with the husband’s business meant they needed extra funds.

They borrowed €675,000, cleared the business debts and met their mortgage payments until July 2008 when the husband’s work “dried up completely”, according to the couple’s affidavit to the court.

An income and expenditure form for the couple, also filed in court, showed they had a joint income of €3,127 a month, to support themselves and their five school-going children and to meet the €3,882 monthly mortgage payments.

The income included unemployment benefit and disability allowance for the wife, who was unable to work after suffering from cancer.

“We have very little disposable income to live on,” the couple said.

They had attempted to sell the property, which was on two acres of land, but had only one genuine offer of €225,000. They had also offered to make payments of €400 a month to the lender, but this was rejected.

Counsel for the lender said they had arrears of almost €165,000 on their mortgage and the debt now owed was €840,000.

Counsel for the couple said the husband had since gone to America to seek work. She said they hoped to address their difficulties and needed more time.

Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne noted the efforts the couple had made but said putting the case back would only make matters worse.

She said the offer of €225,000 for the “large property”, though the solicitor said it was well below its value, showed how property prices had fallen.

She granted the order for possession with a stay of execution for nine months, because of the five children.

When counsel for the lender looked for legal costs, counsel for the couple asked that costs not be given. She said the family were in dire circumstances and the order would probably serve no purpose.

The judge said she knew in many cases orders for costs could be “a waste of time and effort”, but she was obliged to grant them.

A second order for possession was granted to Stepstone yesterday for an abandoned property in Drogheda, Co Louth.

A couple had borrowed almost €190,000 to buy the family home in early 2008 but had fallen behind with repayments and owed over €37,500 in arrears.

A third possession order was granted yesterday to AIB for land in Co Longford.