A MAN who owed €60,000 after the failure of a deal involving a horse has been told he must pay €10,000 by mid-April or his home will be put up for sale.
Mr Justice Brian McGovern also reduced the costs associated with an order for possession from €7,000 to €2,000 and said lenders should explain to borrowers how they can surrender their homes without legal advice.
Six orders for possession were granted at the High Court yesterday. Bank of Ireland and Start Mortgages Ltd were granted two each. GE Capital Woodchester Homeloans Ltd and Leeds Building Society both were granted one.
The court was told a judgment mortgage for just under €40,000 was granted against a man from Drogheda, Co Louth, on foot of a contractual debt. The man had not paid the debt and it had been “well-charged”, or attached, to his family home.
The man, who was present in court, explained that he had bought a horse with a business partner in 2006, but the deal had gone wrong. He said he should have fought the legal action that followed, but he was suffering from depression and seeing a psychiatrist at the time. He had paid off €10,000 of the debt, but with interest and legal costs, now owed €60,000.
Counsel for the plaintiff sought an order for sale of the family home from the court so that the money owed could be paid.
The man told the court he had been staying at home to mind his family while his wife went to work. The situation was not good with his wife at the moment, he said and he was not living at home. “She won’t discuss it with me; it’s my problem,” he said.
He also said he hoped they would get back together when the matter was dealt with. Counsel for the plaintiff said the man’s wife had never attended court, though she had sent a medical certificate stating she had mental health problems.
The man told Mr Justice McGovern he was “looking for the mercy of the court”. He said he was now running a riding school and though not getting a salary was making a small profit. “My wife and family, that’s all I’m concerned with now,” the man said.
Mr Justice McGovern said he did not want to see the family home being sold, but the plaintiff was entitled to his order for sale, and he would make the order in April unless €10,000 was paid off the debt.
“Tell your wife of the situation,” the judge said. “She may not want to face what is happening, but she must . . . it is not her fault, which makes it all the more of a tragedy.”
In a case involving Start Mortgages, counsel for the lender told the court that the borrower had written in early 2009 and said he wanted to surrender his home in Co Roscommon.
The lender had sent out a “pack”, counsel said, which included documents and a letter suggesting the borrower get legal advice. The borrower did see a solicitor, but the solicitor failed to send the correct voluntary surrender documentation back to the lender. The documents “fell through the cracks” at the solicitor’s office, the court was told.
It was only when yesterday’s court date was notified to the solicitor that the lender was sent the surrender document.
Mr Justice McGovern said it seemed unfair that if someone couldn’t pay a mortgage they then had the additional expense of employing a solicitor. He granted the order for possession, but measured costs at €2,000 plus Vat instead of €7,000.
