TV presenter Glenda Gilson’s parents make offer to save house

TV presenter, Glenda Gilson’s parents, Noel and Aileen, may have raised enough independent finance to save their home, at 16 College Gate, Castleknock, Dublin 15, from repossession, a court heard yesterday.

The four-bedroom, three-bath house is listed for sale on Daft.ie for €830,000.

Rudi Neuman, counsel for Shoreline Residential DAC, told Judge Jacqueline Linnane, in the Circuit Civil Court, the couple had made an offer to pay €275,000 off their debt of €380,000 and the bank would have to consider it.

Mr Neuman, who appeared with Beauchamps Solicitors, said the offer had been made just before he had come into court, an increase of €125,000 on an offer made to the bank on Monday last, which had been rejected.

When Judge Linnane asked if the offer involved a refinancing agreement or an offer from a different individual, Aoife Beirne, counsel for the Gilsons, said it was a separate loan, from a separate financial institution.

Ms Beirne told the court she had been instructed to make a substantial offer, at 9.45am yesterday, but she was reluctant to go into the details. She was seeking an adjournment, as the defendants were in the process of raising short-term finance.

“Currently, a solicitor, back in the office, is making arrangements for the payment to be made to Beauchamps Solicitors as soon as possible,” Ms Beirne said.

Mr Neuman said there had been engagement with the bank, late in the day, and an offer received on Monday had been rejected Tuesday. A new offer, of €275,000, had been made before he came into court, against the total outstanding debt of €380,000.

“It is reasonable that the bank should consider this offer, which I would estimate may take between four and six weeks,” Mr Neuman said.

Judge Linnane said negotiations had taken place and definite proposals were being made to reduce the substantial arrears in the case. She said counsel for the defendants had yet to furnish clarity about the source of the funding, which would seem to have been borrowed from a third party.

The judge said she would put the matter in for further consideration, by the court, in early March, and if the proposal to the bank was not satisfactory, the application for possession would go ahead. The court would probably adjourn the matter, if it had been progressed in some shape or form and if the money had been received by the bank.

The court had already been told that Mr Gilson, now a retired painting and decorating contractor, had bought the site, at 16 College Gate, Castleknock, Dublin 15, in 1992, and had built the house himself.

He and his wife, both of whom are now pensioners, had borrowed €300,000 in May 2008, to be paid back over a period of 10 years. The purpose of the 2008 loan had been to refinance an existing mortgage and clear an outstanding liability in respect of his business.

Jeffrey Johnston, a director of Shoreline Residential, told the court that as of July 4, 2017, the outstanding debt was €382,746, which included arrears of €353,553.

Two legal companies, O’Gradys Solicitors and M E Hanahoe Solicitors, were listed as representing the defendants. Mr and Mrs Gilson, both of whom the court learned were suffering stress as a result of their financial difficulties, did not attend court.