Glenda’s mum and dad lose home over debt
Couple must sell property to pay off €390,000 debt
GLENDA Gilson’s parents lost their €800,000 Dublin home yesterday following a long legal battle.
The Circuit Civil Court in Dublin awarded the home to Shoreline Residential DAC, the Irish property wing of a Dallasbased investment fund.
Barrister Rudi Neuman told the court that Shoreline had rejected Noel and Aileen Gilson’s final offer of €303,000 to settle their final debts.
Civil Court Judge Jacqueline Linnane yesterday gave her parents a six-month stay to organise their affairs before they must leave. She advised them to sell the house themselves, so they could receive some money above the €390,000 they owe to Shoreline.
The court heard that the couple had paid off small amounts of their loan. They were in arrears for €380,000 but had a total outstanding balance of €390,000.
A legal source said that the couple are unlikely to appeal.
Barrister Rudi Neuman, counsel for Shoreline Residential, told the court that the Gilsons had offered to pay €303,000 to keep the fourbedroom home.
It was a final offer from their barrister, Aoife Beirne, who previously offered €150,000 on behalf of the couple, and later, €275,000.
The court heard that Mr Gilson, a painting and decorating contractor, had bought the 16 College Gate site in Castleknock in 1992 and had built the house himself.
He and his wife had borrowed €300,000 from Irish Nationwide in May 2008 to be paid back over 10 years. They first fell into arrears in 2010 and had been making small payments, sometimes as little as €50.
Judge Linnane said she would grant a six months stay to allow the couple to sell the property, pay off the loan and use the remainder to buy a new house. She also awarded costs to Shoreline.
Lone Star, its parent company, became the first overseas private equity to buy Irish home loans after the 2008 financial collapse. It spent more than €5billion buying Irish assets between 2012 and 2016 and set up a separate company to hold €563.9million in Irish Nationwide loans.
Shoreline had purchased the loans from the liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, which took over Irish Nationwide in 2011.
The Gilsons declined to comment when contacted by the Mail yesterday.
Glenda Gilson reported from the Oscar’s red carpet this week for TV3’s Xposé. She also hosts the TV3’s Ireland’s Got Talent bonus show – Ireland’s Got Mór Talent. Last year she revealed she still regularly goes home to her parents for dinner.
She remarked: ‘I go home about three or four times a week, you know where your bread is buttered as they say.’
According to the Land Registry, the Gilsons were ‘full owners’ of their house up to early January 2010 but they then took out the loan to refinance an existing mortgage. One of the two directors of Shoreline Residential, Jeffrey Johnston, told the court on February 14 that the Gilson’s outstanding debt on the house was over €380,000.
A couple of days earlier, the couple had offered to pay €150,000 in totally payment of the loan, but Shoreline rejected it. The couple added another €125,000 for a total offer of €275,000. The judge queried where they got the extra money.
Their barrister said that they had taken out another loan, from a different financial institution, in an effort to pay off the debt to Shoreline. Their lawyer said they were reluctant to discuss the details in open court and asked for an adjournment to allow the new loan to be completed.
The judge put the case back until yesterday. While the couple were able to raise their offer to €303,000, it was still not deemed to be enough for them to keep their house. Shoreline rejected the offer, complaining that it didn’t come close to paying off the full debt.
The family had recently listed the house online for sale at €830,000 but the ad has since been removed.