Single mother’s house repossessed

A SINGLE mother struggling to pay her mortgage while working as a taxi driver had her home repossessed yesterday by a sub-prime lender.

The High Court heard how the mother had become ill after being attacked while working and had then fallen into difficulties making repayments to lender Stepstone Mortgages.

Her mortgage, with interest, for her home in Edenderry, Co Offaly, had amounted to €214,000 on a loan of €190,000 originally taken out in late 2007, the court heard. Arrears on the €1,227 monthly repayments had also grown to nearly €20,000 after the woman began defaulting with the lender more than two years ago.

Judge Elizabeth Dunne was told the single mother had become ill after the attack and had been out of work.

Judge Dunne said “things seem to have gone downhill” for the borrower after the attack.

The mother had tried to sell the house and get legal advice but was also denied social welfare when she applied.

Judge Dunne said that despite the borrower’s genuine efforts to satisfy the lender, the woman had not been able to keep up with repayments. A stay of six months on the repossession was granted to the lender.

Just three repossession orders were granted yesterday in the court out of 46 cases listed for hearing.

In another case, a female borrower trying to sell off a French property to repay her Irish mortgage gave her lender more than €40,000 in cheques which bounced, the High Court heard.

The female mortgage holder had given numerous cheques which were dishonoured to Stepstone Mortgages.

The woman, who appeared in court, was now facing a debt of €217,000 for the mortgage on her home in Kilfenora, Co Clare.

Lawyers for the lender said the woman at one stage had promised to pay €10,000 on the rising arrears over a four-week period but no funds were handed over.

Several cheques for thousands of euro sent on to the lender for the original €192,000 loan had also bounced.

The woman’s lawyer said she was making efforts to sell off a property in the south of France to help pay off the Irish mortgage. But arrears and non-payments on the loan had grown to €25,000, the court heard.

Judge Elizabeth Dunne said the delay in addressing the mounting debt would not serve anybody.

But she adjourned the repossession hearing until January to give the woman more time to make a deal.

In another case, the court heard how rogue solicitor Michael Lynn had “swindled” one borrower by failing to pay off his share of debts for a shared property to lender Irish Nationwide.

Lawyers for the male borrower said he had been “left in the lurch” by Lynn, who is believed to be living abroad and is being pursued for millions of euro in mortgage fraud debt by lenders.

Lynn had not cooperated in the case, Judge Dunne was told, but the lender still wanted to recoup debts by selling off two properties owned by the borrower.