Written answers

Tuesday, 17 January 2017

Department of Finance

Home Repossessions

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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241. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which family homes have been repossessed by venture capital investors in each of the past three years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41552/16]

Photo of Michael NoonanMichael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Central Bank publishes statistics on residential mortgage arrears and repossessions on a quarterly basis. This publication provides details of arrears in banks and non bank entities. However the data is not published in the format requested by the Deputy. The latest release is available here:

I would also refer the Deputy to the Central Bank's Report on Mortgage Arrears, published on 16 December at .  In this report the Central Bank concludes that there is a broad range of available restructures offered and delivered by banks and non-bank entities. Furthermore, the Central Bank notes that there is strong evidence that banks and non-banks are looking to exhaust available options before moving into the legal process. Section 4.3 of this report comments on legal proceedings and notes that non-bank entities accounted for 17% of the total stock of repossessed PDH properties in possession as of end-June 2016, with banks accounting for the remaining 83%. The proportion of legal proceedings that result in an order for possession is higher among the non-bank entities. The Central Bank notes that this possibly reflects the higher volume of accounts in deep distress among these entities.  

The Deputy will be aware that the Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act, 2015 was introduced to fill the consumer protection gap where loans were sold by the original lender to an unregulated entity. The 2015 Act introduced a regulatory regime for a new type of entity called a 'credit servicing firm'.  Credit Servicing Firms are now subject to the provisions of Irish financial services law that apply to 'regulated financial service providers'. This ensures that relevant borrowers, whose loans are sold to third parties, maintain the same regulatory protections they had prior to the sale, including under the various statutory codes, such as the Consumer Protection Code and the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears. The Act means that any purchasers of loans books are required either to become regulated themselves by the Central Bank or use a regulated credit servicing firm to service their loans.

Finally, it is clear from the most recent Central Bank data on mortgage restructures that where a borrower actively engages with their lender under the CCMA with a view to agreeing a sustainable arrangement to address their mortgage arrears, it is more likely that an equitable arrangement will be found and that the borrower will be able to remain in their family home.  The new Abhaile mortgage resolution service, which can be accessed through the Money Advice & Budgeting Service (MABS) helpline, can provide access to independent financial and legal advice at no cost to individual borrowers.

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