Judge criticises mortgage firm’s lending practices

A HIGH Court judge has criticised a mortgage company for seeking home repossessions after careless lending.

Start Mortgages had 15 of the 37 cases brought by banks, buildings societies and other lenders against mortgage holders in yesterday’s weekly session.

Judge Brian McGovern took issue with the firm after hearing a plea from a woman who he said was “desperately making every attempt” to pay off her arrears after a back injury affected her ability to work.

The woman, who bought her €400,000 house with her cousin, is almost €53,000 in arrears but she said her cousin had a job starting on December 1 and she was breeding doberman pincher dogs and had her car up for sale to raise the money to clear the debts.

“I wish Start Mortgages would meet me halfway. I am trying everything I can to keep my home but they just won’t meet me halfway,” she said.

Judge McGovern said he wondered about the companies who had the most cases in the weekly list. “They’re in the list for a reason. They lend money to people who can’t pay it back. If they had been more careful about who they lent money to, they might not be in this position.”

He adjourned the case for three months, warning the woman that the next three mortgage payments would have to be met or he would have no choice but to grant Start’s application for repossession.

Judge McGovern also said he was “shocked” by the legal fees involved in the cases he was seeing after a solicitor acting for free for a couple facing repossession said he could not agree with the costs being demanded by their mortgage company, also Start Mortgages.

Solicitor Sean Sheehan asked the judge to intervene after complaining that letters sent to the couple suggested they would be liable for legal costs of €30,000. He said similar cases were handled in the circuit court for €2,000.

The couple, who have four children, have arrears of almost €19,000 on their €200,000 house.

The woman wept as she explained that her partner’s landscaping business had collapsed but she said his father had gravel deposits on land beside their home valued at €700,000, which he was trying to sell to clear their debts.

Judge McGovern said the case sounded “pretty hopeless” given the slim chances of selling the land and he granted the lender’s application to repossess the house, putting a stay on it for six months to see if the couple could make any progress.

But he said he was shocked to hear about the level of legal fees involved. “You don’t have to convince me how difficult this is,” he told Mr Sheehan. “I understand, and my colleagues understand, the misery that is caused by this list.”

However, the judge also made remarks about mortgage holders who run into difficulties after it emerged defendants had failed to show up in a dozen out of the first 15 cases called. In a case taken by GE Capital Woodchester, he granted an order to repossess a family home where the arrears were just over €6,000 after the owners failed to come to court. “It seems like a very sad case but they are not here to deal with it. If people find themselves in a desperate situation, it’s very important if they want to get an extension of time, that they do appear in court and attempt to engage with he situation. There is nothing I can do if parties do not engage with the process.”

Eight repossessions were granted during yesterday’s session with the rest of the cases adjourned to later dates.