# Repo order granted whil I was abroad. I knew nothing about it.



## Legion (17 Aug 2016)

Lost my job, and immigrated overseas in 2012. Bank has consistently refused to forward mail to my correspondence overseas address. Despite completing the relevant form prior to leaving Ireland. We received one letter to our overseas address from our bank in 2012. Then heard nothing until they tried to serve a summons on the tenants in 2014. They denied ever having the overseas address and were communicating with the mortgage address and calling disconnected numbers for two years.
Once the property manager informed me of the situation I contacted the arrears unit and provided my overseas address and mobile number. I was informed that I could not be served and that the summons would be dropped. I was requested to send in a financial statement and payslips etc. Which I completed and heard no more from them until I contacted the bank to change my correspondence address at the end of June 2016. I requested interest statements which I received on the 11th of August 2016 and I queried a “Solr eject cost” and was informed the house had a repossession order granted in April and the three month stay had been completed.

We have been paying on average e950 monthly of the e1090 mortgage since we emigrated are currently 25k in arrears, which is manageable going forward. We have prioritized our daughters Uni fees over the mortgage and smaller personal loans have been repaid. We are now coming out the other end and were fully committed to meeting our responsibilities with the mortgage.
As you can gather we need help going forward and advise on whether it is too late to save the house at this stage.
The possible issues with a repo order hanging over us for the remaining 25 year term of the mortgage?
Is it too late to have the order reversed?
Or is bankruptcy the best way forward? Or possible since we are out of the state for the past four years?
Should we just hand the keys back, and aim for a statue of limitations exit? The bank has my current address.
I am awaiting contact from a PIP in Ireland for professional advise, but would appreciate any ideas you guys might have.

We are fully aware of our role in the problem but also feel the bank has not been 100% clean in their processes. Please be gentle!!


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## Gerry Canning (17 Aug 2016)

Let the PIP advise you but couple of things from your post.
1. What has past has past.
2. Looks like you have communicated with Bank.
3. Looks like arrears built up whilst you sorted fees + other loans.
4. Assume you are now paying 950 of mthly 1090.
................................................
If house is in negative equity ,
(from what you say) Bank has been sneakyish .
1. Let them sell/repo/sort it.
2. Take advice on bankruptcy in country you are now in. (A lot of countries have only 1 year bankruptices) means you are quickly back on your feet.

If you get sensible views from PIP (views that give closure) take PIP,s advice.
If you get sensible views on Bankruptcy (were you are ) and it suits you, take that advice.

Bankruptcy is NOT the end , but a beginning.
Whatever you decide make sure you go for CLOSURE , there is NIL need for this to hang on.


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## Brendan Burgess (17 Aug 2016)

Legion said:


> The possible issues with a repo order hanging over us for the remaining 25 year term of the mortgage?



That is not the issue. The main issue is that as of now with the 3 months stay expired, they can repossess your home at any time.

I am always astonished at people who want to keep their home, but yet pay university fees and other personal loans as a priority. That is absolute madness. 

You were paying €950 out of €1,090 so a shortfall of €140 a month. Really? €25,000 arrears would represent 15 years of underpayments at this level. 

€25,000 represents the equivalent of 2 years arrears at €1,090 per month. 

That is an awful lot of arrears for a house on which you were getting rent. 

Having said that, some of your story must be true.  You must have been paying something and making some effort. 



So you should be able to keep your house. Many repossession orders are not enforced. 

Which lender is it? 
What is amount of the mortgage outstanding? 
What is the interest rate? 
What is the value of the house? 
During calendar 2015, how much exactly did you repay in total on your mortgage? 
Which county do you live in? 

Brendan


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## Gerry Canning (17 Aug 2016)

Brendan ,
you are probably correct in that poster decided (foolishly) to effectively ignore mortgage for a few years whilst he decided to do his own thing ?
he now reaps the whirlwind.

a lot more info needed for you to analyse  but I presume PIP or local PIP equivalent will sort?


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## Legion (18 Aug 2016)

Thanks for your comments and just to clarify the mortgage has been in arrears since 2010 with a balance of approx 15k prior to leaving Ireland in 2012 and legal costs of just under 3k thrown into the mix, 25k is very realistic Brendan.


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## Legion (30 Nov 2018)

Just as a data point on this case.

We took the bank to the high court and had the repo order struck out due to the banks failure to communicate with us at our aussie address, all their comms were directed to the mortgaged property. We have now come out the other side and have been included in the sale to Start, which is not unexpected.


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## Bronte (30 Nov 2018)

Well done you. Did you get costs?  I presume you did. That was brave going to the HC.


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## Legion (1 Dec 2018)

Bronte said:


> Well done you. Did you get costs?  I presume you did. That was brave going to the HC.



Unfortunately not, the HC judge who ruled the order was unsafe, passed the issue of costs back to the circuit court who declared the HC should have dealt with it!

The bank was forced to remove all their legal costs and interest accrued from the arrears and the order was struck out by the circuit court on the condition of a ARA being successfully completed for six months which has now passed.


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## Bronte (1 Dec 2018)

Does that mean you paid your own costs? Or were you in court without legal representation?
What’s an ARA. And the six months.  Could you give us more details on the court experience etc.

It can not have been easy going abroad, glad you’ve come out the other side.


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