Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 5, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following:

“3. In any proceedings brought by a mortgagee seeking an order for possession of land to which the mortgage relates in a case to which this section applies the court, when making its decision whether to grant a possession order shall consider:(a) whether a mortgagee has fully complied with the Central Bank's Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears;

(b) whether a mortgagee has behaved in a manner deemed reasonable by the court. In determining whether the mortgagee has behaved reasonably the Court will consider any responses by the mortgagee to proposals from the mortgagor or a personal insolvency practitioner aimed at resolving outstanding arrears;

(c) whether, in cases where the mortgagee has rejected a proposal from a personal insolvency practitioner, the mortgagor has been given adequate opportunity to appeal the substantive decision of the mortgagee to reject the proposal; and

(d) the intentions of the mortgagee with respect to the residual portion of the debt that remains after any possession and sale of the property and the impact this plan may have on the financial circumstances of the mortgagor.”.

I am filling in for Deputy Mac Lochlainn. The amendment does a number of things. It requires a judge, before granting a repossession order, to take into account a number of issues, including whether the bank has behaved reasonably, whether the bank has rejected a proposal from a PIP, whether the borrower was given adequate opportunity to appeal any rejection by the bank, and whether the bank has fully complied with the code of conduct on mortgage arrears. If the judge is not satisfied that the lender has behaved reasonably on any of those grounds, he or she may reject the application for repossession.

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