The High Court has adjourned Pepper Finance Corporation (Ireland) DAC’s appeal over possession of a Dublin property to a plenary hearing, after finding that a heavily redacted mortgage sale deed did not allow the court to determine who held legal title to the underlying debt.
In a judgment delivered on 7 November 2024, Mr Justice Garrett Simons said Pepper Finance had not yet established the proofs needed for an order for possession under section 62(7) of the Registration of Title Act 1964. He remitted the matter for a full hearing before the High Court, where the parties can provide further evidence. The judgment did not decide the ultimate ownership question or whether the defendant has a successful defence.
The appeal concerned a Circuit Court order dated 15 July 2019 directing Liz Moynihan, also known as Elizabeth Moynihan, to give up 124 Bunting Road, Walkinstown, Dublin 12. The High Court reheard the appeal. Pepper Finance remained the party seeking possession and had to establish that it owned the registered charge and that the secured principal money was due.
The judge accepted that the folio identified GE Capital Woodchester Home Loans Ltd as charge holder and that company records showed it later changed its name to Pepper Finance Corporation (Ireland) Ltd, then converted to a designated activity company. He also said affidavit evidence established that loan payments had been missed and that a formal repayment demand was made on 16 August 2016.
The dispute concerned the debt secured by the charge. The judgment said the beneficial interest appeared to have been transferred to Windmill Funding Ltd, while Pepper Finance was said to retain legal title temporarily as a bare trustee. Pepper Finance relied on a mortgage sale deed dated 28 September 2012 to support that position.
But about 18 of the deed’s 26 pages had been redacted, and 15 of its 18 clauses were almost entirely blanked out. The judge said the court could not interpret the deed, identify when Pepper Finance might have had to transfer legal title, or determine whether any such transfer had already occurred. He found that the extensive redactions lacked a meaningful explanation and left the document largely meaningless for deciding the issue.
The judge stressed that he had not found that legal ownership had transferred from Pepper Finance, or that a bare trustee cannot seek possession. He said the limited evidence left credible grounds for a defence that required fuller scrutiny, but did not establish that the defence would succeed.
The proposed timetable set deadlines for pleadings and discovery between December 2024 and February 2025. The case was listed before the judge on 21 November 2024 for further directions and to address costs.