Court grants order temporarily preventing receiver from repossessing woman’s home

A woman with health conditions and more than €500,000 debts has been granted a last-minute temporary reprieve by the High Court from a receiver’s alleged plan to change the locks and repossess her Co Louth home.

Alison Rafferty claims the receiver, on foot of a debt fund’s instructions, was due to change the locks on her family home at Strand Road, Annagassan, at 5pm on Friday.

This, she alleges, was despite the fact she reached an agreement with Cabot Financial (Ireland) Limited, which was acting as agent for Promontoria Scariff Designated Activity Company – the fund that purchased her non-performing 2007 mortgage.

She claims she consented, under the agreement with Cabot, to a particular approach to the sale of her home as full and final settlement of her debt.

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She and her husband ran into financial difficulty, and her last repayment on the mortgage was in July 2019, she says in a sworn statement to the court. There remains a balance of €527,000, with stated arrears of €207,000, she says.

Ms Rafferty says she has suffered a series of strokes since 2015 that have left her in a very serious medical position, including with impaired walking and speech. She requires day-to-day care, which is provided by her daughter and her brother, who lives with her.

Her solicitor engaged extensively with Cabot in the run-up to agreeing the property would be sold for €360,000, she claims. This deal, she says, came on foot of her having arranged and expended “significant efforts and resources”, on getting a local auctioneer to value and advertise the sale.

Ms Rafferty says some 50 parties have viewed the house, but she understands it has struggled to sell due to structural issues, including a pyrite problem. She claims there is a local buyer prepared to pay full price for the site, which has scenic views of the sea.

She alleges Promontoria appointed David O’Connor as receiver over the property “in the teeth of” her having secured a purchaser.

This was a “stunning development”, given previous representations and the position of Cabot, on behalf of Promontoria, she claims, adding that she never consented to sell the property “simpliciter”.

Her solicitor engaged with the receiver and Cabot by phone and received confirmation the receivership would be put on hold, she alleges. However, she claims, she later received a call from her case handler at Cabot explaining she was on annual leave for several days and did not get a chance to inform her the receivership was proceeding.

Ms Rafferty says she is “distraught” at the idea of being moved in the manner proposed by the receiver. The receiver’s approach could lead to the secured buyer being lost and her intended financial stability is “now in peril”, she claims.

Mr Justice Brian O’Moore said on Friday that Ms Rafferty had made an “adequate” case that the balance of justice favoured granting a short injunction, to last until May 15th.

Only Ms Rafferty was notified of and represented when he made an order temporarily preventing the receiver from repossessing the home or changing its locks.

Her counsel, John Kennedy SC, with barrister David O’Brien, instructed by Comiskey Solicitors, had submitted the receiver adopted a “very aggressive position” whereby he could change the locks on a family home despite an alleged prior agreement about the sale.

Ms Rafferty had “no alternative” but to come to court to seek the orders, he said.