Man loses bid to overturn repossession order for Louth home

A bank is entitled to repossess a man’s home in county Louth, the High Court has ruled.

While the court had “great sympathy” for Colin Brennan, he had made out no defence to the possession order obtained by KBC Bank Ireland plc, Mr Justice Michael McGrath said.

There was no defence on grounds of allegedly unfair terms of the mortgage contract, including being based on a particular salary when taken out and because the interest rate varied, the judge ruled in a judgment today.

He accepted the consequences of failure to repay were clearly set out in a 2008 mortgage agreement and the fact Mr Brennan fell into repayment arrears was not due to any impropriety of the bank.

The principal cause of Mr Brennan’s unfortunate difficulty was the economic downturn which caused his income reduction, illness and consequent inability to make repayments in line with the mortgage, the judge said.

Among other findings, he found the bank had complied with the Code of Conduct of Mortgage Arrears and the Circuit Court had jurisdiction to make the possession order in July 2018 over Mr Brennan's home at Carrick Road, Dundalk.

The judge thanked Mr Brennan, who represented himself, for his courtesy in how he defended the case before adjourning the matter to next month for final orders, including on any application for a stay on the possession order.

Mr Brennan had in 2008 obtained a 35-year €340,000 mortgage loan from IIB Homeloans, later KBC Mortgage Bank, whose banking business was in 2009 transferred to KBC Bank Ireland. KBC issued a civil bill for possession in July 2014 when it said the sum owing was €349,081, including arrears of some €31,833.

In his appeal, Mr Brennan said, through a broker, he bought the property in 2006 with his then fiancée. After their relationship broke up in 2008, he assumed sole liability for the mortgage. He said the interest rate rose from 3.2 per cent to 5.4 per cent and was based on income of a €45,000 annual salary, €23,000 overtime and a €4,000 bonus.

After his income reduced from 2011, he sought, through his broker to re-schedule payments and to arrange delivery up of another property of his in Limerick. He missed work because of stress and claimed KBC had ignored financial requests from his agent and he, Mr Brennan, received threatening phone calls from it.

He returned to work in early 2013 and said he confirmed to the bank he would pay €700 per month, which he said was previously agreed with another official of the bank.

He experienced further health and other difficulties and in March 2015 ceased paying €700 per month. He was then getting illness support of €168 weekly.

His complaints included that the interest rate was too high and KBC was also seeking to recover sums due in respect of the Limerick property, sold by a bank-appointed receiver in 2016. He said he believed there was an agreement he would “walk away” from the Limerick property and the mortgage on the Dundalk property would be restructured.

KBC said it made every reasonable effort to engage with Mr Brennan and it also engaged with the Irish Mortgage Holders Association after it communicated with it on his behalf. It denied any agreement for him to “walk away” from the Limerick property and said arrears on the Dundalk property had increased to some €92,868, making the total sum due in June 2019 some €367,994.