REPOSSESSIONS:SOME 210 orders for possession were granted at the High Court and Circuit Court in the first three months of 2011, according to figures released by the Courts Service.
The figures show an increase of 21 per cent on orders granted compared to the same time last year, when the figure was 173. Applications for orders also increased from 127 for January, February and March last year to 166 for the same three months in 2011.
An order for possession is granted to a lender when a homeowner falls behind with repayments on a mortgage.
At the High Court, including at chancery summonses and other sittings, 130 orders were granted. Some 80 orders were granted at the Circuit Court, of which 66 were residential property.
The busiest Circuit Court in the country was in Dublin, where 23 residential and four non-residential orders for possession were granted. In Cork there were eight residential and two non-residential, while in Waterford and Donegal there were six orders granted at each court for residential properties. Roscommon had five.
There were no orders for possession granted in 12 counties. Cavan was the only county to have fewer residential orders granted than non-residential orders; two for the former and five for the latter.
Since February 2010, lenders have been precluded from taking legal action against borrowers who fall behind with the mortgage on their primary residence until 12 months after the first default.
At the High Court, according to a recent study, it can take 3½ years from first default to eviction from a residential property.
At the end of December 2010, there were almost 790,000 private residential mortgage accounts held in Ireland, according to the Financial Regulator. Of these, just over 44,500, or almost 6 per cent, were in arrears for more than 90 days.
This compares with just over 28,600 accounts that were in arrears for more than 90 days at the end of December 2009.
