Leave to repossess the home of a murder victim was refused in the High Court yesterday after it emerged that mortgage protection insurance was being withheld by an insurance company.
The case was one of 40 before Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne yesterday, the majority of which were repossessions.
Start Mortgages Ltd applied to repossess the home of Thomas McDonagh and his partner, Amanda Bailey. McDonagh's death was the subject of a murder inquiry, the court was told.
Counsel for Ms Bailey, Hugh O'Keefe BL, said mortgage protection insurance was taken out on the lives of Ms Bailey and Mr Mc Donagh when they took out their mortgage in 2002. The entire loan should have been paid off by insurance company Eagle Star when Mr McDonagh was killed.
However, Eagle Star had refused to pay out on the grounds that the inquest into Mr Mc Donagh's death was not completed.
The court was told that the inquest was adjourned until June 2008. Mr O'Keefe said Ms Bailey was in arrears, but wanted to remain in her home. He said if the court granted an order of possession she would be ejected and would have to sue Eagle Star. Ms Justice Dunne refused to grant the order and put the case back to December 3rd. She advised Ms Bailey's representatives to write to Eagle Star. "Unless you are a suspect - I gather you're not - there is no reason why they would not pay out," she said.
Ms Justice Dunne also refused to allow the repossession of a house by Ulster Bank Ireland Ltd when it emerged that the couple involved had reduced their arrears from €6,000 to about €2,000 and were separating.
"I would never put anyone out of their home for a figure of that amount," she said.
An application by BCS Offshore Funding Ltd for repossession of a home with mortgage arrears of €3,600 was also rejected. "I am very concerned about making orders when amounts are so small," she said.
However, an order of possession was granted to GE Capital Woodchester Finance Ltd to repossess the home of a couple in Tullamore, Co Offaly.
The Court heard the couple took out a mortgage of €190,000 in July 2003, experienced difficulties in September 2005 and were €24,000 in arrears. Repayment terms were renegotiated, but were not honoured. "It appears you have done everything you can to bring about a resolution to this matter," Ms Justice Dunne said. "Matters can't go on indefinitely on this basis." She put a stay of three months on the order.
The court granted an order of possession to Bank of Ireland against a Co Carlow landowner. The bank was owed almost €550,000 after granting three loans for the purchase of 78 acres.
Four orders of possession were granted, all with stays of three to six months. The judge rejected an application for costs by Smart Mortgages Ltd against a Donegal couple who had repaid arrears on getting advice from the Money Advice and Budgeting Service.
