Court grants bank ownership of home
AN order was made yesterday to repossess a businessman’s home after he was accused of “playing a game” with his bank.
A county registrar granted Permanent TSB permission to take ownership of the property after stating the man “has gone 10 years without repaying the loan”.
He had run up arrears of €138,640 and the balance before arrears owed on the mortgage was €127,960.
County registrar Pat Wallace said he was granting the order “on the basis I know that you could have paid and you didn’t pay. You understand that?”
The repayments were €1,100 per month and the man said he was making monthly payments of €600 since 2014.
But Mr Wallace said: “You took out the loan. You promised to pay it back and you haven’t paid it back in 10 years.”
The man said he hoped to reach a settlement with the bank on cash owed.
Mr Wallace asked: “What are going to settle with? I think you could have paid and you decided not to pay.
“You have played a game in the hope that that would happen and that hasn’t happened at all.” At the repossession court in Ennis, Co Clare, the local man replied: “I wasn’t under the illusion that it was going to go away.
“I was self-employed at the time. The recession also hit me. I paid €600 every month.”
Mr Wallace said he was granting the order for repossession – with a stay for 12 months.
In a separate case, a borrower said he hadn’t paid any money on his mortgage in six years because of “wrong advice”.
The man has allowed arrears of €107,048 to be built up and the balance before arrears on the mortgage owed to Permanent TSB is €264,000.
The borrower said he repaid €1,000 on April 10, adding: “I have paid the mortgage for the last couple of months and I will be making a payment later on today.”
He told the court the property was for sale but there was no buyer.
Mr Wallace said: “I am going to adjourn this four months. If the lender doesn’t agree to any resolution, I will be granting an order for possession. If the lender doesn’t agree, I suggest you sell.”