This article is from page 17 of the 2014-03-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
A TOTAL of 67 applications for repossession came before the Clare County Registrar at Ennis Courthouse on Friday.
The vast majority of the cases were adjourned to July with 23 of the 67 cases adjourned because the banks and financial institutions can’t locate the homeowners or have their registered letters returned.
In the cases before the court, the largest number of repossession applications came from Ulster Bank at 26; 17 from the EBS; and eight from the AIB; with a single application from the Bank of Ireland.
In one case, Ulster Bank was seeking to proceed with the repossession application.
That application, heard before County Registrar Pat Wallace, involved a West Clare man who owes Ulster Bank € 128,428.35. The figure includes arrears of € 26,011.
The court heard that 10 years ago, the man received a loan for € 110,000. He later got a top up loan of € 15,000.
The man, an unemployed machine operator, said that he missed a repayment in December because he had to carry out roof repairs. He said he outlined his difficulties in a letter to the bank.
The man told the County Registrar, “I am not working. I’m on so- cial welfare.” The man said that after missing the December repayment he received a letter from the bank saying his monthly payment had jumped from € 195 to € 668. He said the value of the house was now somewhere between € 65,000 and € 70,000.
The court heard the man was made redundant four years ago. He told the County Registrar that he is now considering renting out the house. Mr Wallace said that would be a good idea.
Mr Wallace told the man he was adjourning the application for two months but wanted to see some progress the next time the matter came before the court. He said the property is in negative equity. “If there is no repayments, there is no point hanging around,” he added.
Mr Wallace adjourned the case to July. He said, “I’d like you to do something concrete and increase the payments. If you got a job, you might surmount this debt.”