The High Court proposed judgments totalling €3,438,850.18 for Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank against Niall and Joyce Hade, while awarding Niall Hade €550,000 in exemplary damages over a receiver’s unauthorised possession and sale of properties securing the loans.
Mr Justice Barr delivered his judgment on 25 November 2022, after hearing two related actions together over seven days. The court’s proposed orders remained subject to written submissions on their final terms, with both cases listed for mention on 21 December.
The bank had sought €2,026,640.09 from both defendants jointly and severally on one loan, and €1,412,210.09 from Niall Hade alone on a second. The judge accepted the bank’s account evidence and proposed judgments for those amounts, with interest from 28 September 2022 to the date of judgment. He also proposed dismissing the Hades’ counterclaim against the bank.
The court rejected the Hades’ claim that a bank representative had agreed to extend the interest-only period on the first loan. It also found they had taken the loans to acquire or refinance a portfolio of rental properties as a business activity, rather than as consumers. The loans were not housing loans under the relevant legislation. However, the judge found the bank’s mortgage documents agreed that five mortgages signed on 17 December 2009 would be treated as housing loan mortgages and carry the protections of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009.
Those protections required court orders for possession and sale. The receiver took possession of the five properties covered by those mortgages without possession orders and sold three—107 Jervis Place, 92 Moy House and 5 Taobh na Coille—without sale orders. The judge held those actions were without lawful authority. He awarded Niall Hade €50,000 for each of two properties taken but not sold, and €150,000 for each of the three sold, making €550,000 against the receiver. The award was to Mr Hade alone.
The court did not find that the receiver sold properties at an undervalue or negligently managed those retained. The judge also rejected claims of duress in signing the mortgages and defects in the demand letters. He proposed dismissing Niall Hade’s action against the bank and receiver, while granting Joyce Hade a €550,000 judgment against the receiver. The proposed orders also declared that she could not take possession of 29 Kingswood Heights or 4 Taobh Na Coille without a Circuit Court order, with that declaration stayed for six months to allow applications. The court proposed no order as to costs and a 28-day stay on its judgments and orders.