The High Court has heard details of more than 25 cases where banks and mortgage companies are seeking to repossess homes or lands because of mortgage arrears.
Most of the cases were adjourned yesterday by Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, either with the consent of both parties or to give defendants more time to sell the properties in question.
Five of the cases involved Start Mortgages, which offers mortgages to people who have been turned down by the main banks and building societies. Other cases involved Bank of Ireland Scotland, GE Capital Woodchester Finance and Carlisle Mortgages Ltd.
In one case, Ms Justice Dunne heard that Derek Ralph, Castlebar, Co Mayo, had arrears of €30,753 on a €219,000 mortgage and repayments were rising at approximately €2,000 a month.
Ronan Murphy for Start Mortgages said the mortgage company was seeking possession of the property. He said the mortgage had been taken out in December 2005 but the defendant had been in arrears since January 2006.
Mr Ralph told the court that his business was owed money and he said he knew of someone who was interested in buying the house. "If I got two to three months, I'd definitely have it sold," he said.
Ms Justice Dunne said she could not give him that much time as the high rate of repayments would leave him with no money from the sale of the house if the case was allowed to drag on. "There would be nothing left for you," she said. "The matter needs to be dealt with urgently."
She adjourned the case for four weeks to see if a buyer could be found.
Another Start Mortgages case involved a taxi driver who had no difficulties in making his mortgage repayments until he was involved in a road crash.
Mr Murphy said the defendant had started to make repayments of €400 a month and while it was "nowhere close" to the sum required, it was "an effort" and medical reports indicated that the man was recovering from his injuries.
Difficulties in selling houses to meet arrears were highlighted several times yesterday.
In another Start Mortgages case, the court heard that the two defendants had been trying to sell the property for some time. Two estate agents had been contracted to sell the house and one of the home owners had also tried to sell the house privately to repay the €22,000 arrears. Ms Justice Dunne agreed to adjourn the case to see if the house could be sold.
