A year in the Cork Repossession Courts

[Brendan Burgess]

Séamus Coffey has compiled a report on 892 cases (1,683 appearances) he has observed in Cork this year

Conclusion

We know there has been a very large increase in the number of legal proceedings issued in relation to defaulting mortgages. The dataset here allows an insight into the outcomes that result in the cases that have been heard before the Cork County Registrar from April to November 2015.

The findings suggest that the borrowers and the lenders are coming to alternative repayment arrangements in a large number of cases and that many of the proceedings will be struck out or adjourned generally. But there will also be a rise in the number of orders granted.Even then there is still some opportunity for the borrower and the lender to reach an agreement meaning that not all orders will be executed.

There will be a rise in repossessions in cases where properties are vacant or where
borrowers are making absolutely no effort to engage with their lender but it will not be a tsunami.



It's interesting that the ratio of completed cases is 185 strkeouts to 79 orders, or roughly 2:1

There are about 18,000 cases before the courts at the moment. If that ratio holds across them all, it would be about 6,000 orders.

However, most of those are for abandoned houses or former homes which are now rented out.

Séamus, Karl Deeter and I have seen almost no repossessions of occupied family homes where the borrower was paying anything.

Brendan

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Orders granted

The borrower was absent from the court in more than 80 per cent of the instances where

an order is granted. Borrowers have been present and/or represented in court when 13 orders

have been granted but in nine of these the borrower was consenting to the order. There were 4

borrowers present who did not consent to the order being granted against them though none

explicitly requested that the order not be granted.




The average arrears was just over 4 years. The minimum was 17 months.


7 Repossessions and Evictions

Figures from the Cork City and Cork County Sheriffs show if the possession orders

granted are translating into evictions. The following is from the Cork City Sheriff’s office:

The number of repossessions lodged in the City Sheriff’s Office to date in 2015 is 10.

Six of these Orders were on behalf of lending institutions and of these three are pending

and three have been executed. Of the three executed two were vacant.

The Cork County Sheriff’s office have said the following:


49 repossession orders were lodged in the County Sheriff’s Office in 2014 and 73 to date

in 2015. Of the 49 orders in 2014, 28 were executed, although 25 of them were

unoccupied properties. Of the 2015 orders, 28 have been executed, with 21 of those

properties unoccupied at the time of the eviction.