The High Court has upheld an order granting Pepper Finance Corporation (Ireland) DAC possession of a property owned by Nicholas and Tanya Matthews following an appeal from the Circuit Court in Meath.
The possession proceedings began in July 2019. Pepper relied on a €322,000 loan agreed with the defendants in July 2007 and secured by a registered charge over the property. The court recorded that repayments fell into default from about October 2013. By June 9, 2025, arrears stood at €244,818.63 and the total debt was €476,726.27.
The Circuit Court granted possession on July 23, 2025. On appeal, the Matthewses accepted that Pepper had otherwise established the legal proofs required for possession. Their challenge focused on the Central Bank’s Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears.
The issue arose from a Pepper letter dated July 20, 2023 stating that the borrowers were being treated under its Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process. A further letter six days later said they were outside that process and confirmed that repossession proceedings had already commenced.
The defendants argued that the 2023 correspondence created a sufficient issue over compliance with the Code to require a full trial rather than a summary possession order.
Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell disagreed. He found that Pepper had complied with the Code’s requirements before commencing proceedings in 2019. The judge said the Code did not require legal proceedings to be suspended simply because lender and borrower continued to engage afterwards.
The crucial distinction was that no alternative repayment arrangement had been agreed. Had such an arrangement been reached, the Code would have required Pepper to seek to place the possession proceedings on hold.
The court held that voluntary engagement after proceedings had begun should not, by itself, deprive a lender of an otherwise established right to possession, as that could discourage attempts to resolve mortgage arrears.
The appeal was refused and the possession order granted. The judge provisionally indicated that Pepper should receive its costs, with final costs and any application for a stay to be addressed later.