# Story of a Family Home Repossession



## Matthew Moore (22 Feb 2016)

I'm currently bankrupt and in the process of having my house repossessed. My blog may be useful for anybody in similar circumstances.
Our next court date in this Friday, 26th of February. In the meantime, here are 3 relevant posts relating to the repossession. They're in order:

1. [broken link removed]

2. [broken link removed]

3. [broken link removed]

Please feel free to fire over any questions.


----------



## moneybox (22 Feb 2016)

It makes for very harrowing reading, wishing you well Matthew.


----------



## roncondon (22 Feb 2016)

Good luck

Hope all goes as well as it can.


----------



## Tamango (22 Feb 2016)

Best wishes on Friday Matthew.


----------



## Ceist Beag (23 Feb 2016)

All I can really say is I admire your strength of character and your ability to deal with this in the manner you have and I hope you get it resolved soon so that you can move forward again.


----------



## shoppergal (23 Feb 2016)

Thank you for sharing your story. Good luck on Friday.


----------



## Matthew Moore (23 Feb 2016)

Thank you all for your messages, I really appreciate them. 

Although the posts I linked to are focusing on a rather difficult aspects of my life at the moment, please take the blog as I view life, as a sum of its parts. There's good and bad but in general, the good far outweighs the bad.


----------



## 44brendan (23 Feb 2016)

The bank in question could have handled this a lot better. It's a terrible pity that co-operative clients tend to get no reward for co-operation and solutions that would benefit both parties are not considered as reasonable!!
Unfortunately for many clients there tends to be a blunt instrument approach by many banks to some clients which at times may appear almost antagonistic. There are times when I feel ashamed of my profession!


----------



## Matthew Moore (23 Feb 2016)

44brendan said:


> The bank in question could have handled this a lot better. It's a terrible pity that co-operative clients tend to get no reward for co-operation and solutions that would benefit both parties are not considered as reasonable!!
> Unfortunately for many clients there tends to be a blunt instrument approach by many banks to some clients which at times may appear almost antagonistic. There are times when I feel ashamed of my profession!



I don't take it personally. I could blame the institution, or perhaps the employees, but I prefer to think that there's an algorithm in there that doesn't like me! 
That helps me avoid being cynical and remain objective.


----------



## Underpressure (23 Feb 2016)

The very best of luck to you and your family on Friday 

My personal opinion is that you should not make it easy for the banks to take your home under any circumstances


----------



## Matthew Moore (23 Feb 2016)

Underpressure said:


> The very best of luck to you and your family on Friday
> 
> My personal opinion is that you should not make it easy for the banks to take your home under any circumstances



Thank you for your wishes. 

While making the repossession difficult would be my default position also, I had to consider many other factors. Most important of all was the effect that this prolonged battle was having on my wife. I've a thick skin and can handle the many false starts that we went through. However, she finds it extremely difficult to see all those opportunities for a resolution slip through her hands. I couldn't put her through more of it. Alongside this, the house needs a significant investment. I bought it with the best of intentions of gutting and modernising it. That never materialised and now we have huge issues with damp, insulation, leaks etc. There comes a point when you have to weigh your principles against the costs (and unintended consequences).


----------



## esiuol (24 Feb 2016)

hello Mathew, thank you for sharing your story, situation and experience. I hope you will have things sorted soon and can move on as you have planned. The stress takes its toll. Hope this isnt an insensitive/silly question but from your time spent in court, did you get any insight into how other cases are being treated? Are people being given any leeway to go and try and do deals with banks? Have you seen many repossessions of family home being granted even where payments, partial or otherwise, are being paid each month?.


----------



## Clonback (24 Feb 2016)

Matthew
An amazing attitude from BOI.I admire your honesty and hopefully things will improve for you and your family.Best wishes on Friday.


----------



## Matthew Moore (25 Feb 2016)

esiuol said:


> Hope this isnt an insensitive/silly question but from your time spent in court, did you get any insight into how other cases are being treated? Are people being given any leeway to go and try and do deals with banks? Have you seen many repossessions of family home being granted even where payments, partial or otherwise, are being paid each month?.



I'm really glad to answer any questions so please, ask as much as you like.

Before I was in court myself I had read so many articles, reports, forum chats etc about repossession and two things *seemed* apparent. The attitude of courts in different areas varied widely and secondly, it was unlikely that you would have your home repossessed if you were making some type of payment.

I can only speak about the Dublin court as I've no experience of any others.



esiuol said:


> did you get any insight into how other cases are being treated?


The Registrar speaks very kindly to the people before her, especially on their first appearance. She will exlplain very clearly that no order for repossession will be made at the first hearing. There will be representatives from MABS and the ISI there who will be bale to provide advice and assistance too. The court is operated very much in consideration that it will be most peoples first experience of a court.



esiuol said:


> Are people being given any leeway to go and try and do deals with banks?


I went to the court before my hearing to see how it worked and I was surprised that what I had imagined was very different to what was happening in practice. The Registrar was quite strict against the plaintiffs(banks) and defendants for cases that were on the second or later hearing. On a number of cases she clearly stated that her court was not an "adjournment jurisdiction". By this she means that if cases come before her, it should be expected that an order for possession is sought as quickly as possible or esle the case is struck out. She did not seem to look favourably on allowing time for negotiation and gave the impression that the time for this was before the case came before the courts. This was directed at both plaintiffs and defendants. In the cases where she did give an adjournment, many were stated as "peremptory". This means that the adjournment is final and the case will be dealt with on the next day.



esiuol said:


> Have you seen many repossessions of family home being granted even where payments, partial or otherwise, are being paid each month?.


Yes, I have seen this,not in many of the cases though. As I mentioned above, she clearly stated in her court that the result of the case being brought is that it will ultimately need a possession order or a strike out. I get the impression that it will reach this sooner in upcoming cases than it has previously.

---

My experience of the court prior to my hearing hugely influenced our decision to consent to the repossession. The government had stated that banks were just issuing repossession orders to get borrowers to engage. If this is the case, it is clear that the Registrar in Dublin frowns upon the practice. 

It could be worth having a look at this thread too: http://askaboutmoney.com/threads/du...-repossession-increases-significantly.196963/

If you do find yourself facing a court date, make sure you attend. Although daunting, there is plenty of support available.


----------



## Harold (25 Feb 2016)

Very best of luck tommorow Mathew, thank you for sharing your story.


----------



## esiuol (25 Feb 2016)

Thank you for taking such care and time in your reply Mathew. Your feedback is appreciated. Wishing you the very best outcome for you tomorrow.


----------



## Banjaxed (25 Feb 2016)

Best of luck tomorrow Matthew and family


----------



## Matthew Moore (26 Feb 2016)

Thank you all for your wishes. 

Here's a little update for tonight:
[broken link removed]


----------



## ppmeath (26 Feb 2016)

Good luck today Matthew.


----------



## Banjaxed (26 Feb 2016)

How did you fare out !


----------



## Brendan Burgess (26 Feb 2016)

I went to the court today.  I will wait until he tells his story in his inimitable style. I couldn't do it justice. 

Brendan


----------



## Bronte (27 Feb 2016)

Well done BB on going there to support him.  Can you tell us about the other cases, are the courts now more strident in allowing evictions, you saw the case last week where a woman who had paid nothing for years was told she could stay in the house for another year for free.


----------



## Matthew Moore (29 Feb 2016)

Banjaxed said:


> How did you fare out !



Sorry for the delay, it was a crazy weekend. It went well thankfully but there was a few hairy moments!

Here's a post I've just done: 
[broken link removed]


----------



## Cervelo (29 Feb 2016)

Well done Matthew, I'm glad it went well for you.


----------



## Ceist Beag (29 Feb 2016)

well done Matthew, your preparation and professionalism served you well here. Best of luck in the future.


----------



## moneybox (29 Feb 2016)

Glad it went well for you Matthew, wishing you and your lovely family very best wishes for the future. You are going to do just brilliantly!


----------



## Bronte (29 Feb 2016)

So glad for you Matthew that it went according to plan.  

Can you explain to us why the DCC letter was no good so that others can be warned. We know people have to be very careful on this as if the 'voluntarily' give back their house they then may make themselves ineligible for social housing or assistance.


----------



## Harold (29 Feb 2016)

Matthew you are very brave in facing the Situation. I wish you and your family the very best for the Future.  Thank you again for sharing your Story in such a well written way.


----------



## Matthew Moore (1 Mar 2016)

Thank you all for your wishes. I'm really glad with how it went. 
Please feel free to ask me any questions if you have them.


----------



## Matthew Moore (1 Mar 2016)

Brendan Burgess said:


> I went to the court today.  I will wait until he tells his story in his inimitable style. I couldn't do it justice.
> 
> Brendan



Thanks Brendan, especially for providing this platform for discussion, but don't be setting the bar too high for me! I'm just telling it as it is and hope it gives people an insight to what many are facing.


----------



## Matthew Moore (1 Mar 2016)

Bronte said:


> So glad for you Matthew that it went according to plan.
> 
> Can you explain to us why the DCC letter was no good so that others can be warned. We know people have to be very careful on this as if the 'voluntarily' give back their house they then may make themselves ineligible for social housing or assistance.



Thank you Bronte. 

I'm still of the opinion that I would have been ok with DCC, but felt for piece of mind that it was best to let the law take its course while I was there. As far as I know, once a mortgage has been deemed "unsustainable" it is possible to apply to the social housing list. I presume that having a mortgage deemed unsustainable is a necessary step on the way to court for anyone who ultimately finds themselves there. 
The letter that I had did not explicitly mention consent, only that I would remain on the housing list once the house is repossessed. The letter I had sent to DCC did explicitly mention consent. 
A lady from MABS who was in the court on my initial hearing very kindly followed up on it and sent me this leaflet. It clearly states that one is eligible once the mortgage has been deemed unsustainable. However, with the greatest of respect to MABS, it would be much better to get a definitive answer from DCC. 

In short, it would seem that people should only "voluntarily" return their property once the mortgage has been deemed, in writing, as unsustainable. Even then I would seek written confirmation from their Local Authority.


----------



## Bronte (1 Mar 2016)

Indeed I think you are right Matthew and I bet every local authority has a different rule.  But it's not just about the housing list, you might make yourself ineligible for rent allowance.  I've no idea with the amount of people in distress why there isn't a countrywide coherent policy on this.


----------



## Matthew Moore (1 Mar 2016)

Bronte said:


> Indeed I think you are right Matthew and I bet every local authority has a different rule.  But it's not just about the housing list, you might make yourself ineligible for rent allowance.  I've no idea with the amount of people in distress why there isn't a countrywide coherent policy on this.


It really is messy. With rent allowance I believe you are dealing with the DSP but they may need confirmation from you LA that you are on the housing list. A single national body with coherent policy would certainly be helpful.


----------



## Dermot (1 Mar 2016)

Matthew.  You are a wonderful honourable man. I applaud you for the way you have dealt with this and how you have communicated it on here.  You have had the misfortune to end up like this and you dealt with it so honourably.  I am sure that the majority of posters are in admiration of you. Personally I hope your life turns around full circle and you have my very best wishes as do your family for the future.  The very best of luck as you deserve it.


----------



## Brendan Burgess (1 Mar 2016)

Matthew

I was on the Expert Group on Mortgage Arrears in 2010.

We recommended that a person should be put on the Housing List as soon as they get a letter from their lender that their mortgage was not sustainable ( My suggestion by the way.) 

This was accepted although it took a year or two to actually change the Ministerial Order.

So it is the law. However, I have come across local authority housing staff insisting that someone has to be homeless before they would be put on the housing list. 

But I think that the letter you have should be ok.

Brendan


----------



## Linseed (4 Mar 2016)

Dermot's post + 1 ....
You've a lot of living to do with your young family wishing you best of luck and health to go do it.


----------



## Banjaxed (4 Mar 2016)

Thank you for sharing your experiences.   As others have said - BEST OF LUCK.


----------



## Matthew Moore (18 Mar 2016)

Thank you all for your kind wishes. 
I will do a follow up post to reflect on the experience, however, as it's well and truly study and exam season in college, I will have to wait till I have a sufficent bout of procrastination to get something together.


----------



## Matthew Moore (26 Nov 2016)

I just remembered this thread and thought how I never updated it. 

Time is flying by. We've a little more than 7 months till the stay runs out on the 01/06/17. We still feel it was the right thing to do. I've recently had an article published that covers this topic and many other aspects. It may be of interest to people facing similar situations. 

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-...g-trinity-how-i-started-my-new-life-1.2861998

You can find links to my blog and other material at www.matthewmoore.ie


----------



## Bronte (28 Nov 2016)

Matthew I love the first sentence:

_On the verge of losing everything and being declared bankrupt, Matthew Moore walked up a stairway in Trinity to do a college interview – they were the stairs to a new life
_
You are an inspiration Matthew.  _Educating Matthew_.  It sprang to mind about Rita and it was filmed in Trinity.

Over the years on here I've read some very harrowing stories, some that did not end well of that I have no doubt,  but your's will be different of that I have no doubt.


----------



## Matthew Moore (28 Nov 2016)

Thank you for your kind words Bronte.

I haven't seen the film yet but I'll definitely check it out. I hope that sharing the story will demonstrate to people in similar situations that there is hope and many ways to deal with difficulties.


----------



## aprentice (28 Nov 2016)

Well done to you sir for sharing your story im sure plenty of people in similar situations will read this over the coming years and will find it helpfull


----------

