When repossession strikes home

PATRICIA and John Burnett are the real face of the repossession crisis facing Ireland’s debt-ridden home owners.

The Tipperary couple lost their home yesterday after falling into huge arrears on their mortgage payments.

Standing before the High Court they were forced to admit how they could no longer cope with the debt hanging over their heads.

The court heard how the husband and wife had accrued arrears of nearly €32,000 on their three-bedroom home.

They had originally been given a mortgage of €169,000 from lender GE Capital Woodchester in 2006 for their home in Ballydrehid, Cahir, Co Tipperary.

“It’s been hanging over us for so long,” said Ms Burnett.

Husband John explained how he had lost his job as a truck driver two years ago and that was when the couple encountered difficulties paying off the lender.

“It’s dragging us down,” added Patricia.

The couple ended up owing GE Capital Woodchester more than they borrowed – they were facing €178,000 in debt.

The couple, who have two grown children, aged 22 and 23, told the court they did not want to oppose the repossession order.

Judge Brian McGovern ordered a stay of eight weeks on the home repossession and noted that no legal costs were being sought by the lender’s lawyers.

Speaking afterwards, the couple explained how their hopes of a dream home had collapsed with rising debt.

Patricia said: “We’re 10 years there. We did a bit of work on it also. When we rang the local council 18 months ago, we were advised that if we voluntarily gave up the home we would not be considered for [local authority] housing.

“We kept refinancing and refinancing [loans] and didn’t think the whole thing was going to crash,” said the mother of two, weeping outside the courtroom.

“We were high risk at the time and got the mortgage at an 8% [interest] rate. We had tried going to the mainstream banks.”

Mr Burnett said at one stage he had been earning €900 a week in his hardware-related job, but that repayments for the mortgage were running at €1,800 a month.

He summed up their immediate future: “Now we’ll just get a load of boxes and start packing.”