Hi Rion, I remember your case from before. If Im not mistaken, your partner has a mortgage of c.145K, an apartment worth about 45K and negative equity of around 100K. If I remember it correctly he has very little income and almost no other assets or liabilities.
I think he is headed in the right direction by surrendering the apartment. I think this was also the advice from most of the contributors, from your previous post.
I think the main issue for your partner, is what happens after the apartment has been surrendered and sold.
In his case I believe that the answer is not a PIA but one of the following two options
1) Let the bank sell the apartment and wait for their next move. Your partner is not in a position to repay them anything so its unlikely that the bank will pursue him too much anymore for the negative equity debt. If your partner's circumstances don't change in the coming years, I think you'll find that the bank will eventually write off the debt and go away.
2) The 2nd option would be to seek a DSA (Debt Settlement Arrangement) under the Personal Insolvency Act. There is no guarantee that the bank would accept a DSA proposal, especially if your partner doesn't have any real income to contribute to this on a monthly basis. Once the numbers are crunched, i have a feeling that a DSA will not work in this case.
My advice to you is the same as before - Surrender the appartment to the bank and wait for the bank's next move. There really isn't much they can do in your case.
If your partner doesn't like the uncertainty and pressure of waiting for the bank to act, then he should probably look at bankruptcy. I dont think bankruptcy is necessary in this case, although it would help to bring finality to the situation and enable him to draw a line under his predicament