Man unable to sell pub faces losing family home

A MAN saddled with a pub he cannot sell faces losing the home he shares with his young daughter, the High Court heard yesterday.

In the case brought by EBS Building Society in which an order for repossession was granted, the High Court was told that the man had failed to sell a pub in Athboy, Co Meath, and as a result faced losing the house he shares in the town with his 10-year-old daughter.

The repossession case was heard on a day when all but one of the applications by another firm, Start Mortgages, were adjourned to dates next year, although the company said this was “coincidence” and not a policy of avoiding repossessions in the run-up to Christmas.

In the EBS application for repossession, the court heard how arrears had grown from €37,000 in October last year to €86,000 now, with just one €1,000 payment made in the interim.

The court was told how the man bought a pub, in partnership with another man, using a loan of about €750,000.

The pub came with one acre of land and the plan was to sell the pub and then use the revenue to build houses on the acre, which in turn would be sold.

The man put his own home up as additional security on the loan while his business partner did not put any assets into the venture.

Problems arose around the sale of the pub. A condition of sale was that planning permission was needed for the adjacent land, and the court was told “this was not obtained, or there was a delay, so [the pub] was not sold at the expectant speed”.

Granting the order for possession with a stay of four months, Mr Justice Brian McGovern said: “The situation is unfortunately hopeless.”

In another case brought by IIB Homeloans, an order was granted for the repossession of a property, home to a father and his two children, aged 15 and 10.

The court heard that the outstanding balance on the property was €254,203, of which €22,480 were arrears and in which the last payment was made in December two years ago.

Mr Justice McGovern placed a stay of four months on the repossession order as Christmas was approaching.

In another case, Mr Justice McGovern granted a well charging order — a preliminary step towards securing an order of sale — but adjourned any implementation of an order of sale on the property, which has a sum of €39,900 outstanding, until the man at the centre of the case informed his wife of his financial difficulties.

Another well charging order was made in a case brought by Bank of Ireland against a retired garda.

An order for repossession of a family home, brought by GE Capital Woodchester and in which arrears stand at €14,161, was also granted, with a four-month stay.

Another order of possession was granted in one case brought by Start Mortgages. The firm said it had repossessed just 20 houses in the past four years, despite the large number of cases coming before the High Court.