Repossession order for scrubland used to secure €2.1m loan

ANGLO IRISH Bank secured an order for possession yesterday at the High Court for six acres of scrubland in Co Galway used to secure loans totalling over €2.1 million.

Anglo Irish, now called Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Ltd, had granted the four loans to a borrower in 2007.

Counsel for the lender said the borrower had never appeared in court and had not engaged at any stage. Her mother had appeared on her behalf on two occasions, but had not made any submissions, he said.

The property was described in documents filed with the court as “six acres of scrubland bounded by a mixture of mature trees, hedgerows”, with no dwellings.

Rights to cut turf, known as turbary rights, at a separate location were included with the land.

Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne granted the order for possession with a stay of three months.

Stepstone Mortgage Funding Ltd was also granted an order for possession for a property in Kilcullen, Co Kildare. The court was told the borrower took out a loan of €300,000 in May 2007 to purchase the property and began to default on repayments in July the same year. Counsel for the lender said the property had been abandoned and the lender was unaware of the borrower’s whereabouts. Arrears on the loan now totalled almost €60,000.

The defendant had left the country and had initially hoped to send money home, but that had not happened. Legal papers in the proceedings had been served by attaching them to the door of the abandoned home.

Ms Justice Dunne granted the order with a stay of two months.

The judge also transferred a case involving Stepstone Mortgages to her list after hearing the master of the High Court, Edmund Honohan SC, had refused to do so.

The master, who deals with pre-trial matters before transferring cases to chancery summonses and other civil lists at the High Court, had not given any reason for failing to transfer the case, counsel for the lender said. He said the property involved had mortgage arrears of €58,000 and had been before the master four times.

Counsel for the couple involved, who were from Co Wicklow, said he thought the master had just been giving the couple more time.