The High Court has ordered Patrick Farrelly and Kathleen Murtagh to give Pepper Finance Corporation Ireland DAC possession of their home at 21 Reask Green, Navan, after rejecting their appeal against a Circuit Court possession order.
Mr Justice Mark Heslin delivered judgment on 26 April 2022 following a de novo hearing on 1 April. Pepper was represented by counsel. Farrelly appeared in person to oppose the application; Murtagh did not appear.
The Circuit Court had made its possession order on 16 October 2018. In the High Court, Farrelly’s central argument was that Pepper held only “bare legal title” to the mortgage and that Windmill Funding Limited should instead have brought the case. The judge found that the Land Registry identified Pepper as the registered owner of the charge and that the evidence did not support the claimed transfer of legal ownership to Windmill. He said Pepper was entitled to seek possession under section 62(7) of the Registration of Title Act 1964.
The judgment records that the borrowers accepted neither the underlying lending nor the default as a disputed issue at the hearing. The €150,000 loan was advanced in 2006 and secured by a mortgage over the Navan property. The judgment says repayments fell into default in October 2009 and that the balance then outstanding was about €297,401, including about €188,000 in arrears. The borrowers did not dispute that figure.
Farrelly also sought an adjournment after receiving two legal authorities on the day of the hearing, saying he needed time to respond by affidavit. The judge refused the application. He said Farrelly had had access to the cases for about an hour before making his reply, and no missing factual issue had been identified that required another affidavit.
Justice Heslin concluded that the defendants’ arguments did not amount to a stateable defence and that the evidence showed the secured debt was due and Pepper’s application was made bona fide to realise its security. He ordered possession of the property to be delivered to Pepper.
The judgment did not settle costs or the precise form of the order. It directed the parties to correspond about those matters; if they could not agree, short written submissions were to be filed within 14 days.