Family to lose its home as fugitive solicitor Lynn failed to bank the money

A FAMILY has lost its home because fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn never passed on its money to the bank.

The family had purchased a three-bed penthouse in Kilmainham Orchard, Emmet Road, Dublin, from Lynn, who had given an undertaking to lodge the proceedings of the sale with Bank of Scotland (Ireland).

But the court heard that Lynn, who had originally purchased the house for e562,000, had not done this.

The case was heard at yesterday’s weekly chancery summonses hearing in the High Court during which Ms Justice Elizabeth Dune granted orders for possession on eight properties. The court heard that advertisements were placed in Irish and Portuguese newspapers in an attempt to serve notice on Lynn. There was an indication that Lynn is in Portugal.

Ms Justice Dunne said it was a sad state of affairs that the family, having purchased the property in 2005, subsequently discovered that it had no title and had effectively fallen victim to fraud perpetrated by Lynn.

In this case, however, there were two innocent victims, said Ms Justice Dunne. Bank of Scotland Ireland was also a victim, a fact that could not be ignored. She said it was only possible to see the risk of having a solicitor also acting as vendor with the benefit of hindsight.

“I do not think anybody looking at the transaction at the time could have dreamt of the possibility of the fraud of the scale now apparent,” she said.

The judge put a six-month stay on the repossession order and believed that would give time for the family to sort out its predicament with both the Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and the Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank who loaned the family the money to buy the property.

In another case, where a home in Navan, Co Meath, was repossessed by Allied Irish Bank the judge was told that the whereabouts of the man who owned the house were not known any more.

The bank, which is owed e88,020, said it believed the man was now living in America.

Counsel for the bank said there were a number of tenants in the house and rent collected by a local auctioneer was passed on to the Revenue Commission, on foot of a court order. The court was also told that advertisements had been placed in both the Belfast Telegraph and the Miami Herald in an attempt to serve notice on the owner.

In another case, a bank was granted a repossession order after it told the court the joint owners of a house in Knocktemple, in Virginia, Co Cavan, were living in Wales and Spain.

The couple purchased the house with a loan of e290,000 in July 2007 and now had outstanding arrears of e34,215.