REPOSSESSION ORDERS granted by the courts do not equate to the true level of homes being repossessed, the country’s largest bank said yesterday.
An AIB spokesman said in the region of 300 repossession orders were granted to lenders last year, but only 50 of these resulted in properties being repossessed.
The reason for this was that customers were coming to an arrangement with lenders, which included the sale of the property or an agreement to make payments on a regular basis, he said.
He was speaking after orders for repossession were granted by the High Court in respect of four properties yesterday, as proceedings got under way in 32 cases.
Nearly two-thirds of the applications listed before Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne at the weekly chancery summonses hearings were taken by subprime lender Start mortgages, which was granted one of the repossession orders.
In a case involving Start Mortgages, the court heard how the defendant, a single man, had fallen into arrears of €37,700, with no repayments made since January 2008 and some default prior to that. The court also heard that the defendant had made “no contact whatsoever”, despite being written to on a number of occasions. An order was granted to GE Capital Woodchester home loans for a house in Swords, Co Dublin.
The mortgage of €175,000 was granted in April 2006, but the defendant subsequently fell into arrears in September 2006, with a current balance in excess of €178,000 owed.
The judge noted that while payments were made from time to time to reduce the debt and arrears, the arrears consistently remained between €5,000 and €7,000. The judge acknowledged that the defendants had made efforts to make payments, but that these were “patchy efforts”.
The judge also noted that proceedings had previously been adjourned on a number of occasions to give the defendants a chance. Granting the order, she said: “Repayments are getting bigger and arrears are creeping up, the defendants will be worse off if the matter just drags on.”
GE Capital Woodchester was also granted an order for a family home in Cavan, after the defendants agreed to surrender it voluntarily. The plaintiff’s barrister told the court the house was valued at €350,000, in excess of €80,000 more than the defendants owed, and that any surplus realised from the sale of the house would be passed on to the defendants.
Both defendants were unemployed and had vacated the property, with mortgage arrears at just under €20,000 and a total balance of €264,000 outstanding.
An order for repossession was also granted for 13.1 hectares of agricultural land in Co Galway.
A refinance loan of €150,000 was granted by Carlisle Mortgages in August 2004, to be paid back within 24 months. The court heard how the defendant began defaulting on payments in December 2005, with the total balance outstanding now at €270,623.95.