Wives were not privy to men’s credit union loans

A credit union cannot sell the jointly-owned family homes of two Cork men to recover judgments against them because their wives had nothing to do with the loan transactions and never signed any document providing their homes as security, the Court of Appeal ruled.

Judge Gerard Hogan found the homes could not be sold because the wives of the two borrowers were not parties to the relevant loans which gave rise to the judgment mortgages and never formally consented to them.

The ruling yesterday was made following the courts’ first consideration of principles governing the possible partition and sale of a family home under the Land Law and Conveyancing Act 2009.