The High Court has granted Start Mortgages DAC leave to issue execution on a 2011 order for possession, after finding a reasonable explanation for the delay and no countervailing prejudice to the defendants.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons made the order on 9 December 2019 under Order 42, rule 24 of the Rules of the Superior Courts. The application concerned an existing possession order made on 7 March 2011. The court’s decision grants permission to execute on that order; it does not make a new possession order.
Start Mortgages said earlier enforcement attempts were postponed after details of the sheriff’s planned attendance at the property appeared on anti-eviction websites and social media. Its affidavit also described efforts to engage with the defendants, including offers of voluntary surrender or an assisted sale. The court considered those efforts a reasonable explanation for the delay.
Peter Gawley opposed the application, arguing that Start Mortgages was not entitled to own the mortgage charge. The court held that the issue had already been addressed in earlier High Court orders substituting Start Mortgages as plaintiff, and could not be raised again in this application. It also held that the challenge to the Register of Title was inadmissible in possession proceedings.
The judge noted that Gawley had not identified prejudice caused by the lapse of time. He appeared to have remained in residence at the mortgaged property, and no mortgage payments had been made since June 2014, the judgment said.
The application was heard on 11 November 2019. The court granted Start Mortgages DAC leave to issue execution on foot of the 7 March 2011 possession order.