A WOMAN who separated from her husband after they fell behind with their mortgage told their lender she would not be contributing to the repayments, the High Court heard yesterday.
Counsel for Leeds Building Society said the husband now lived in the property with their child.
The couple from Co Offaly remortgaged their home with a €200,000 loan in 2007 which was then worth €300,000. Within five months they fell behind with their repayments.
The man’s business had ceased because of injury and the woman was unemployed. They had separated after falling into arrears.
Counsel for the lender said the couple entered an interest-only arrangement after their initial defaults, with an additional €100 to tackle arrears, but failed to keep up those payments and now owed arrears of €12,395.
Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, noted that the woman had told the lender she would not be making any contribution to the repayments. “The arrears may seem like a relatively small sum at €12,395, but the outstanding debt is €209,000,” she said.
She granted the order with a six-month stay, or delay of execution, to allow the man and the child to be rehoused.
In a separate case involving Stepstone Mortgage Funding Ltd, counsel for a couple who were given a 38-year loan said it meant his clients were tied into a mortgage until they were 80 years old.
The old-age pension would not meet the repayments, he said, and he wanted to cross-examine the lender on the details of the loan.
But Ms Justice Dunne said if he had a defence he should put it on affidavit first. She granted an adjournment, but said she was concerned the couple already owed arrears of €97,000.
“Adjournments at length to allow people to deal with matters don’t always serve somebody well,” she warned.
