THE FORMER home of Seán FitzPatrick’s parents in Bray, Co Wicklow was sold for €310,000 last month – €190,000 less than it was valued for Mr FitzPatrick last year, according to court filings.
The High Court approved the sale last month but the price achieved at the auction of the property was not disclosed in court.
Court papers recently submitted for Mr FitzPatrick’s bankruptcy files show the house sold for €310,000. Half the proceeds from the sale of the three-bedroom property on Camaderry Road will go towards Mr FitzPatrick’s debts of €147 million.
He had owned the property with his sister, Joyce O’Connor, former president of the National College of Ireland.
The property was sold by the official assignee, Chris Lehane, who has overseen Mr FitzPatrick’s financial affairs since he was declared bankrupt in July 2010.
The house was an unencumbered asset, with no charge or loan on it. Mr FitzPatrick’s unencumbered assets are being sold first to go towards his debts.
He had valued the house at €500,000 in bankruptcy case submissions in 2010.
Estate agent Gordon Lennox of Lennox Estates told Mr Lehane in a letter in April, submitted in the bankruptcy file, that house prices in the vicinity of the property had fallen between 20 and 25 per cent.
Mr FitzPatrick also jointly owns investment properties with his wife in Smithfield and Killiney, Dublin, in Greystones, Co Wicklow and in Marbella, Spain.
Mr Lehane stands to make a further loss on Mr FitzPatrick’s €1.36 million investment in an AIB subordinated bond which is the subject of the bank’s debt buyback.
AIB is buying back the bond, held within Mr FitzPatrick’s pension fund, from investors for €250 for every €1,000 of debt – or just 1 cent if they refuse.
