Bank to repossess house used as a cannabis factory

BANK of Scotland has been granted repossession of a house which was used as a cannabis growing factory after its owner secured a mortgage using fake documents and a false name.

The High Court heard yesterday the bank had also discovered the mortgage owner — who used a fake passport to get his loan — was now being investigated by the Garda Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).

The mortgage holder drew down the €380,000 loan for the Navan bungalow in July 2008 using fake documents, as well as a fake PPS number, the court heard. Over €406,000 is now due on the loan.

Problems transferring the property into the mortgage owner’s name had revealed his use of forged details.

Bank of Scotland told the court that CAB had since contacted the lender and that the borrower was now out on bail with criminal proceedings pending.

Gardaí had raided the Meath property in late 2008 and discovered a cannabis growing factory.

Granting the repossession order, Judge Elizabeth Dunne said: “The evidence of the earnings provided appear to have been false and made up.”

In another case, a married woman fighting repossession of her home told the judge she was facing a wait of 28 weeks for advice from a Kildare legal aid centre.

Judge Dunne told the woman to inform the legal aid centre to lessen the six- month wait for help and adjourned the case for the woman and her husband.

Eight repossession orders were granted yesterday out of 48 listed for hearing.

In many cases, said Judge Dunne, amounts owed by borrowers facing arrears were well in excess of the original mortgages granted.

A possession order was granted to Stepstone Mortgages for an abandoned house in Granard, Co Longford, for which a couple made “sporadic” payments on the €202,000 loan.

The couple were facing arrears of over €17,000 in unpaid amounts and the loan with interest had now grown to over €223,000.

Granting the order, Judge Dunne commented: “This is well in excess of the sum borrowed. This seems to be a common feature in a lot of the cases coming before the courts at the moment.”