Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all the words after ‘Seanad Éireann’ and substitute the following: recognises that:

- the level of mortgage arrears is a significant economic and social challenge and the Government is aware of the difficulties some borrowers are facing in meeting their mortgage commitments;

- the Government has already taken decisive action to address the mortgage arrears challenge and is committed to continuing to address this issue as a priority;

- the resolution of mortgage arrears continues to be an ongoing issue which is being addressed by a range of different Government and financial institution-led initiatives;

- the Statement of Government Priorities 2014-2016 recognises that high levels of personal debt continue to threaten to exclude thousands of individuals and families from the recovery and commits to the completion of a review of the implementation of the Central Bank’s mortgage arrears targets and the operation of the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) and to the strengthening of the independent advice service offered to distressed borrowers;

- the vast majority of mortgage holders are meeting their repayment commitments; and

- receivers are not appointed in respect of principal dwelling houses but may be appointed in respect of buy-to-let or other commercial properties;

acknowledges policy interventions that have been undertaken, including:

- the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 and subsequent waiving of ISI application fees in 2014;

- the provision of the Mortgage Arrears Advice and Information Helpline; and

- the provision of independent financial advice for borrowers on the terms of restructure arrangements offered to them by their lender;

welcomes:

- the fact that engagement between borrowers and lending institutions has resulted in almost 115,000 sustainable restructure arrangements being put in place, as also indicated by the CBI December 2014 data;

- the initiatives by lenders to provide borrower-focussed debt restructuring solutions; and

- the improved take-up of ISI services in 2015 and the fact that the majority of ISI solutions result in successful outcomes for the borrower, as evidenced in the ISI statistical bulletin for Quarter 1 2015;

notes that:

- the Government has put in place a broad strategy to address the problem of mortgage arrears and family home repossessions, which has included an extensive suite of interventions designed to address the problem including specific Central Bank targets for the banks through the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets (MART), the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears, extensive recasting of the personal insolvency legislation, the provision of advice through Department of Social Protection-led initiatives and the Mortgage to Rent Scheme;

- given the personal distress caused by over-indebtedness, the effective management of the mortgage arrears issue remains, however, a policy area, by necessity, under continuous review and that more and concerted action by the banks can be undertaken to assist customers in arrears and to improve the uptake of personal insolvency solutions;

- the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland has produced a helpful ‘Residential Tenants’ Guide to Receivership’, which provides appropriate information to tenants affected by the appointment of a receiver to a buy-to-let property;

- receivers are generally appointed under the terms of the mortgage deeds made between the lenders and borrowers and are sometimes called a ‘receiver of mortgaged property’ or a ‘receiver of rent’;

- receivers are not appointed in respect of principal dwelling houses but may be appointed in respect of buy-to-let or other commercial properties;

- there is no compelling evidence that this sector requires the introduction of regulations to govern the conduct of receivers;

- it would not be appropriate to use the Land and Conveyancing Act 2009 as a vehicle to introduce such regulations as that Act deals with substantive land and conveyancing issues and is not the place for regulating the conduct of parties to lending and conveyancing activities; - the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government proposes the introduction of an amendment to the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 that will help to bring greater clarity in this area and will be of benefit to tenants and receivers alike. The proposed amendment will provide that where a person is appointed as a receiver to carry out the functions and exercise the powers of a landlord under a tenancy, that person will be considered to be the landlord for the purposes of the 2004 Act; and

- the making of Court Rules are a matter for the Courts Service and the relevant Court Rules Committees and not for the Minister for Justice and Equality;

and calls for:

- the Government to continue its work across the relevant Departments and Government Agencies to consider all options to strengthen the mortgage arrears framework in order to ensure that families can, where possible, remain in their home and to encourage all lending institutions to work with it to deal with the mortgage arrears problem, with a view to making an announcement on this issue in the coming weeks; and

- the Government to keep the matter under review.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. In listening to my colleagues and their testimonials, it is very hard to disagree or argue with most of what they said. Senator Mullen spoke about receivers turning up with dogs and all sorts of crazy things. Nobody, from the Taoiseach to the Minister, would support those kind of actions. That type of behaviour is reprehensible. I call again on those who have to repossess properties to do it appropriately and have common decency. We should not have to legislate or amend Acts to facilitate common decency. The majority in the debt-collecting business do it with as much empathy as they possibly can, by appointment and appropriately. Unfortunately, there is a significant minority which does not aspire to that kind of conduct or ethical framework with which we expect all our citizens to be treated.

The Government’s amendment embraces much of how we all feel on this issue.