Possession order stalls on Santa concerns

AN ADJOURNMENT for a home repossession case at the High Court yesterday was extended from December to the New Year after the borrower told the judge he had five children and was worried about Santa.

The case, involving the Educational Building Society, concerned two loans taken out in June 2006 by the borrower, from Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

He claimed the EBS had given him incorrect advice and he would not have taken out the commercial loans if he had not been given the advice.

He also suggested the building society should be treated as a failed investor and should carry its own losses.

He said he had sought documents from the EBS related to his loans and he was unhappy they had not been provided.

He told Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne he believed his loan had been traded and “securitised” by the building society and it might no longer own it.

The property involved was “not just a folio number on a piece of paper”, he said, and he wanted a full hearing to carry out a “securitisation audit” on the loan.

“This is my life we’re dealing with,” he said.

Counsel for the EBS refuted the suggestion the bank might not be the holder of the loan and said the case had gone on for two years already and should be completed.

Ms Justice Dunne noted the borrower had not questioned the building society’s ownership of the loan on affidavit.

She said she had already given time to the borrower to file other affidavits and he was “not doing terribly well in supplying a defence”, but she agreed to give him one last opportunity.

She adjourned the case to December 19th, but the borrower asked if she would hold off until the New Year. He had five children, he said, and he was concerned about Santa. The judge agreed.

Seven orders for possession were granted at the High Court yesterday, six of which were obtained by Start Mortgages Ltd.

Ms Justice Dunne also set aside four orders made by Master of the High Court Edmund Honohan.