EIGHT ORDERS for home repossession were granted at the High Court yesterday, but the court adjourned a case after being told a couple were paying two-thirds of their monthly mortgage.
Stepstone Mortgage Funding Ltd applied for repossession of a property for which a couple had borrowed €270,000 over a 40-year term. They should have been making repayments of €900 a month.
Counsel for the lender said the couple, who had three small children, had defaulted sporadically since December 2007 and had entered into a variety of short-term arrangements, the net effect of which was a “running deficit”. They now had arrears of €27,000.
Counsel for the couple said they had been paying €600 a month regularly since November 2009 and were only short once in six months.
The husband wasn’t working over Christmas, but now had a job and would be working “for the foreseeable future”.
Mr Justice Brian McGovern said it appeared the family were making every reasonable effort to pay and their situation might improve. “I don’t want to put people out of their family home if there are children involved and they are making genuine efforts,” he said. He adjourned the case until April and said the couple should keep up their payments and try to deal with arrears.
A second case involving Stepstone was also adjourned after the court was told counsel for one of the borrowers wanted to file a “technical defence”. The couple, who had five children, had arrears of €37,000 and an outstanding debt of €253,000 on their Kildare home. They had borrowed the money to pay off a business loan.
Mr Justice McGovern was told a separate case at the High Court was challenging Stepstone’s legal ability to give home loans.
The wife involved, who was in court alone, told the judge she was separated from her husband. She had applied for legal aid and was told she would be given an appointment in March. The judge adjourned the case until March.
Speaking outside the court, the woman said her husband was a carpenter and had lost his job after the boom. She found the whole repossession process very stressful. There had been phone calls and letters from the lender suggesting they should hand back the keys, she said. They were ringing twice a day on occasions and said they would have the house back within two weeks.
