Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

“That Dáil Éireann:

notes:-- the latest mortgage arrears statistics published by the Central Bank showing a further increase in the number of arrears cases with 142,118 family home mortgages in arrears at 31st March, 2013;

-- that, as a result of various initiatives by Government and the Central Bank, the balance of power has shifted firmly in favour of the banks and against the distressed mortgage holder;

-- the recent publication by the Central Bank of the Revised Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears;

-- the imminent enactment of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2013 which, inter alia, nullifies the Dunne judgment;

-- the number of family home mortgages in arrears of greater than 12 months has increased significantly and now stands at over 54,000;

-- comments from senior officials in the Department of Finance and the Central Bank predicting a significant increase in the level of home repossessions;

-- that the banks hold an effective veto on any proposed arrangement involving the mortgage under the new Insolvency Service; and

-- that under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets:

-- the banks are not yet required to achieve any targets for reaching agreement with borrowers;

-- the banks decide on the nature of the sustainable solution to be offered to the borrower; and

-- the sustainable solution can involve interest only, putting the borrower into the insolvency process or the repossession of the property by way of a Court Order;

recognises:-- the widespread concern among distressed borrowers of imminent legal action by banks to initiate repossession proceedings; and

-- the evidence from advocacy groups and from direct contact with mortgage holders that banks are now taking a more hard line approach with those in mortgage arrears;

calls for the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears to be revised to enshrine the following provisions:

-- a clear definition of what constitutes an unsustainable mortgage following a process involving representatives of both borrowers and lenders;

-- an entitlement to a minimum protected level of income for a borrower entering an arrangement with their bank;

-- reinstatement of a maximum number of successful contacts that a bank is allowed to have with a mortgage holder in any calendar month;

-- in recognition of the difficulty with placing a value on a tracker mortgage, where a borrower is faced with an offer which involves surrendering their tracker mortgage, a requirement that a third party verify if the offer from the bank is in their best interests;

-- reinstatement of the 12 month moratorium on repossession proceedings for mortgage holders who have entered the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process;

-- the Central Bank to require that banks record all calls with borrowers and that these can be stored so that Central Bank staff can access them randomly to check them for any incidents of harassment or following a specific complaint;

-- an obligation on a bank seeking an order for repossession to first obtain written confirmation from the Central Bank that it has exhausted every other course of action available to keep a family in their home; and

-- an obligation on any bank seeking to classify a mortgage holder as uncooperative and moving for immediate repossession to obtain confirmation from the Central Bank that they can be properly classified as uncooperative; and

further calls for regulation of debt collection agencies, in particular, where they are engaged by banks in respect of customers in mortgage arrears.”

I wish to share time with Deputies Ó Cuív, Browne and Calleary if that is agreed.

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