Repossession heartbreak for family in Court 9

IT is never good to cry in front of your children, so it is just as well the woman’s toddler son was outside with his dad when the tears started to flow.

In Court 9 yesterday, wearing a tight blue jacket designed for these darkening, colder days, she stood in front of Mr Justice Brian McGovern and told him that she could see why their family home had to be repossessed.

“I just can’t cope with it any more,” she said, wiping her eyes. “It’s just that there’s so much stress and I can’t cope with it.

“I know it’s a horrible thing to leave my house,” she sobbed, as barristers shifted uncomfortably. The judge, commenting sympathetically, asked that they leave – they did in a matter of seconds, scattering like a herd of frightened zebra.

With her husband minding her son out in the corridor, the woman continued: “We have four children and I’ve explained it to them.

“My husband is trying to get work and we just can’t...”

The couple’s children are aged 13, 6, 4 and 18 months, and afterwards the father said the case, listed as involving GE Capital Woodchester Home Loans, had been hugely stressful for the family. He mentioned the phone calls from the lender, using the word “harassment”.

In the court, the judge had sought to offer some comfort.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of other people like you here and it’s no fault of your own,” he said.

The woman said she hoped that the local authority or health board would be able to facilitate them getting a new house before Christmas and added that she was afraid of the possibility of her family effectively being evicted. The judge said: “No one is going to throw you out.

“Unfortunately, you are not alone. I don’t know if that’s of any comfort to you. It’s just the times we live in.”

“We’ll be fine – we have each other,” she said.

Outside, her husband said he had been working in construction, but lost the job. It later emerged they owed €393,000 on the mortgage, including arrears, with the first default in January 2008. Now the family will deal in weeks, with a stay of four weeks placed on the possession.

“The times we live in” combine this type of high tragedy with elements of low farce. There were 12 cases yesterday in which an order for possession was granted by Mr Justice Brian McGovern, including for two other family homes, and another case involving Michael Lynn in which four holiday homes in Carrick-on-Shannon were repossessed.

The rogue solicitor and another co-named defendant faced the application for repossession on the Cluain Bui holiday homes from KBC Homeloans. The court heard that advertisements had been placed in newspapers overseas so as to convey to him that proceedings were under way.

“Does anybody know where he is now?” Mr Justice McGovern asked. When told no, other than the possibility Lynn was in either Budapest or Portugal, the judge asked “have no further inquiries been made as to where he is?”. No, he was told.

“Why not?”

He answered his own question by later referring to good money being thrown after bad in trying to track Lynn down. The court heard collateral of €2.5 million had been borrowed to fund the properties, and there were issues over who should get the proceeds of any sale.

So, one heartbroken family came to court to face the music, and another man didn’t. The tune is the same for both, and it keeps playing, like a broken record.

The times we live in!