Report on Dublin Registrar's Court 26 February

[Brendan Burgess]

Interesting cases or issues arising

1)When a guy applied for an adjournment on the grounds that he had consulted[broken link removed]
2) Adjourned most cases to July. But if the borrower showed up or was paying something, they were adjourned to October. So show up and pay something if you want to keep your house.
3) A borrower made a very impassioned speech for about 5 minutes about her personal difficulties and her difficulties in dealing with the EBS. The Registrar and the court sat spellbound. Then the Registrar told the solicitor for the bank to get the name and number of a person from the EBS so that the borrower could deal directly with them and not be messed around any further.

4) The banks applied for costs on a few occasions and were always refused.

5) In one case where the lender wanted to proceed, there was a tenant in the house so that seemed to stop them proceeding as they had to go through some additional step to notify the tenant.

6) One owner of a buy to let was asked if he was paying anything and he said no. He was asked if he was consenting and he said no. But he got an adjournment anyway. The bank had applied for a Practice Direction Adjournment which they did not need to do, as it was not a family home.

7) In one case the bank had instructed the barrister to proceed, but the solicitor had sent the files to the barrister the previous evening,and he had not received them. So he could not proceed and it was adjourned until October.

8) A case which had been adjourned until today, did not appear on the list because the office had struck it out in error. The barrister asked that it be put back in and the Registrar refused, saying that he would have to go through the normal process to revive it.

9) In one of the cases transferred to the Judge's List, the borrower lodged their Notice of Motion yesterday. The borrower was challenging the validity of something.

10) Two cases involved the same borrower with the same lender. The solicitor for the borrower had filed one affidavit to defend both cases. This was invalid. Although the solicitor had lodged an appearance a year ago, the affidavit was lodged that morning. The barrister couldn't explain the delay, but wanted an adjournment anyway. The Registrar refused and transferred it to the Judge's List.

11) In a case where the bank wanted to proceed, the borrower said that he was talking to a PIP. Although he first spoke to the PIP 3 months ago, no action was taken. Adjourned to 21/4 - the shortest adjournment.

12) Borrower, a foreigner,said she was on benefits. The bank could not serve her partner, who had left the country. Got an adjournment to October. She will get another one then, as it will his first appearance.

13) A couple in their 60s appeared and told a long story. The lender and a Housing Association had agreed a Mortgage to Rent, but it turned out that the value of the house was more than the remaining balance, so the Housing Association pulled it. They were paying interest only of €470 a month, which they could afford, but when the bank insisted on full repayments of €2,000 a month, they stopped paying anything.

 

[44brendan]

3) A borrower made a very impassioned speech for about 5 minutes about her personal difficulties. The Registrar and the court sat spellbound. [broken link removed]

Would be great if you could elaborate on this Brendan. I have heard that the EBS is a disaster. I.e. never respond to any proposal put forward.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

OK, here are my notes


"I have reneged on my contract, but not on my responsibilities.

I am paying €800 a month. In 2007 I bought a one bed apartment. I had a mortgage of €260k in 2008 and a car loan. I got into difficulties in 2009 and it took me from February to the summer to get a meeting. EBS are not helping. I cleared my car debt. I took the opportunity to study to improve my earning power. I am a teacher – i.e. a public servant. I suffered an income drop. In 2014 I suffered again due to the stress and anxiety of this. I can’t meet my monthly expenditure. [Starts crying] I am in a long list of EBS customers, and every so often they just make a token gesture of contact. I want to honour my debts. No reciprocity from EBS. I was ill in 2015 and out of work for 6 weeks. They chose this time to take me to court. The repayment should have been €1,450 – They applied the RLEs and said I could afford it. But the RLEs don’t apply to me . I am solvent. I have the capacity and willingness to pay. Their RLEs took no account of my special circumstances. I have adjusted my lifestyle. My life is on hold.[Cries again] I am 43 and I have no partner or no children. That is a big price to pay for a 1 bed apartment. I have cleared other debt. I am responsible for this loan. In 2014 I engaged a Debt Management Company. I discovered that they had not submitted my information. I am now engaging with the IMHO. Last Tuesday. It was a great help to me to tell my story. [Sits down to a round of applause]

Registrar: MABS is outside.[ The Registrar doesn't seem to distinguish between the IMHO and the other advisors].

Bank: She is engaging and paying something.

Registrar: She is a can’t pay, not a won’t pay - Send a full memo to your client . I want this woman to be given the name and phone number of a dedicated person in the EBS to deal with"

She seemed to prioritise clearing her car loan over paying her mortgage. The lenders, rightly, don't like that.

€260k @3.8% = €10,000 a year in interest. This means that she is paying the full interest and so, in my view, they should not be proceeding against her.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Matthew Moore was one of the homes repossessed by consent which he reports on himself here:

[broken link removed]


He also comments on the other cases.

Brendan