Mortgages Flashcards
give a brief description of mortgages
They are rights you have over someone else’s land.
It is a form of security for debt over some sort of real property.
Mortgages are key for the housing market because without them many ppl wouldn’t be able to afford homes.
The rights and obligations in mortgages have to be very defined because they have a direct impact on the housing market.
Key defns
Mortgagor- borrower
mortgagee-lender
Mortgage- A security for debt over property
Mortgages of unregistered property pre 2009 Act
You could do this in three ways:
Conveyance of a fee-simple/freehold estate subject to redemption
Mortgage by demise- conveyance of a leasehold whilst retaining the freehold and lease ends when mortgage is paid off.
Mortgage of a leasehold- by assigning/subleasing subject to repayment
All of these involve the actual transferring of a legal estate to the mortgagee
Problems with this
Made it difficult to have more than one mortgage- difficult to leverage equitable value
High degree of artificiality insofar as the lender wouldn’t actually live /use the land conveyed to them.
Morgages of registered property pre-2009
What legislation
Section 62 of the regisration of title act
Allowed for a legal charge to be granted to the mortgagee t give them rights over the property without having to actually transfer the land.
Mortgages post-2009 Act
Legislation
Section 89 of LCLRA
Section 89 of LCLRA
89(1) mortgage of a legal estate must be created by deed
89(2) if created any other way it will not be a legal mortgage, only an equitable one.
No need for actual transfer of land
Aim of this was to unlock a suite of remedies for the mortaggee if the mortgagor defalts in payment or theres a breach
Equitable mortgages
How can they be carried out?
- mortgage of interest in property- if you have an interest in property u are deemed as the beneficiary of that trust and can create. a mortgage of it with a lender.
- Failure in formalities: When a contract for. a mortgage has been signed equity will anticipate the creation of an equitable mortgage.
- The handing over of the title deed with the intention of creating a mortgage
Equitable mortgages of registered land
State case
Handing over of the land certificate to the mortgagee.
AIB v Glynn- equitable mortgage of registered land can be made if the owner hands over the land certificate
Why did this need to be changed?
Only way to create an equitable mortgage was by:
Handing over of deed for unregistered
Handing over of land certificate for registered.
Both required the intention of creating a mortgage
State the case on intention for mortgage
Russell v Russell
Concerned a husband and wife and both of them had 50 per cent interewst in the property. The husband handed over title deeds to create a mortgage but the wife claimed thta she did not enter into mortgage cuz she did not have the intention and it was solely her husband
Held: equitable mortgage didnt exist for wifes interest
What leg amended this problem
Section 73 of the Registration of title and deeds act
Section 73 of the Registration of title and deeds act
Aimed to get more land on to the registry
Provided that no more land certificates be issued and all existing land certificates be valid for 3 years post-enactment
Rationale for this was that you dont need a piece of paper to tell u that ur the owner if ur already on the registry
What about equitable mortgages made through deposit of charge certificate pre-2006
State case
Promontoria Oyster v Hannan
Stated that any mortgages after enactment wouldnt have an issue because no land certificates would exist
Pre2006 act
s73 provided that the land certificate is to be valid for three years, so the mortgage has 3 years to be entered into the registry or else the security will be void.
NOTE: Section 73 does not apply to other creations of equitable mortagges like the deposit of title deeds.
Why do protections exist
For mortgagors to adress imbalance in bargaining power
NAme the first protection and expllain it
Unfair terms
Unfair terms and consumer contract regulations- aims to provide some oversight into the negotiations of mortgage terms to address the imbalance in bargaining power and prevent terms in the mortgage from being too harsh and unfair
What case concerns unfair terms
AIB v Counihan
Stated that when a mortgagor has entered into a contract and the terms are unfair, it is up to them to being up the unfair terms before a court. Very significant as if a term is deemed as unfair, it could make the whole mortgage void
Unfair terms and mortgage agreements
Mortgagor can assert unfair terms of a mortagge agreement.
The courts distinguish between the core terms and non-core terms
Core terms: interest rates
Core-terms can not be argued to be unfair
Unfair terms and mortgage agreements
State cases
Permanent TSB v Mallon
Grant v Registrar for Laois
Permanent TSB v Brennan
Permanent TSB v Mallon
Concerned a term in the mortgage that provided that if the mortgagor doesn’t make 2 terms of payments the whole mortgage is due.(ACCELERATION CLAUSE) Argued that this term was unfair
Held: The case wasnt decided on this but the courts did comment on this.
The term wasnt unfair insofar as the mortgagor had given a lot of information on the terms prior to signing and he had received legal advice
Grant v Registrar for Laois
The courts aligned with the decision in aziz whereby it is up to the decision maker/judge to determine whether a mortgage is fair. It is not up to the mortgagor to assert that a term is fair, the judge has to make their own independent decision on the fairness.
Permanent TSB v Brennan
Concerned a core terms agreement but the argument wasnt in terms of the core terms itself but of the fact that because of the downturn in the economy, the mortgagor didnt receive as much income and it made it difficult to repay the mortgage.
Held: The terms in the contract in themselves werent unfair and the core term agreement couldn’t be assessed for fairness.
Protective code 1
Code of conduct for mortgage arrears 2013
Code of conduct for mortgage arrears 2013
Sets out the process by which financial institutions have to follow when a mortgagor falls into arrears:
Must have a MARP- Mortgage arrears resolution process
Must use clear and definitive communication to the person who has fallen into arrears
Has a duty to notify the manager that they have fallen into arrears and the consequences that follow
Must offer reasonable alternatives of payment
There must be an internal appeals process
NB: Memorandium process- there must be an 8 month gap between the arrrears and legal proceedings to give time for the parties to negotiate a solution
What effect does this code have
Instiutions found in breach of this code would be fined,
However, that wouldn’t serve much benefit to the individual so the legal status of code was introduced
Legal status of code
Secondary legislation which allowed mortgagors to raise the code of conduct when they had fallen into arrears and were at risk of repossession
State both cases that focused on the code of conduct
Stepstone mortgages v Fitzell
Irish life and Permanent v Duff
Stepstone mortgages v Fitzell
Concerned a mortgagor who had defaulted on payments and the mortgagee wanted to repossess the property. The defendant argued that the pl was in breach of the code of conduct because there was no internal appeals process.
held: Laffoy J stated that when a mortgagee is coming into court seeking for repossession on foot of a mortgagee going into arrears, the mortgagee has to comply with the code of conduct. They were in breach of the code by not providing an internal appeals process and therefore the repossession was denied.
Irish Life and Permanent v Duff
Held: Hogan J accepted Laffoy J’s judgement but raised concerns on the ‘providing reasonable alternatives for repayement’, what would constitute reasonable.
However, using the ruling in Fitzell, the concluded that the mortgagee could not repossess the property because they hadnt made reasonable efforts ton provide alternative options for payments
What supreme court case shows the current position of the courts?
Irish life and permanent v Dunne/Dunphy
Irish life and permanent v Dunne/Dunphy
Key question of whether the courts would have to look at all of the provisions of the code of conduct, and if the repossession would be denied if one of them was broken.
Held: Focused on the memorandum period- if the mortgagee brought legal proceedings before the 8 months, then their application to repossess would be denied.
In terms of the other terms, they could not veto repossession
If the Oireachtas saw fit,, they could legislate primary legislation to vindicate those other terms.
Protective code 2
Consumer Protection code 2012
Consumer Protection code 2012
Provides protections for mortgagors to not enter into mortgages where they wont be able to pay off the debt or are unclear of the consequences that will arise when falling into arrears
Consumer Protection code 2012
Provisions
!. Warning and info
2. suitability testing
3. Stress testing- look at income and expenditure and see if they are capable of repaying debt with current interest rate and if the interest rate were to increase
4. VAluation of property- must be valued to ensure that if property was sold in case of arrears, it would be able to pay off the debt owed
Consumer Protection code 2012
Case
BOI v Quinn
Concerned def who went into arrears and challenged repossession order on the basis that the pl had not complied with the consumer protection code by not providing a suitability test
Held: decided case on another factor but obiter comment;
Could use reasoning in dunphy insofar as th provision was vital to the code, defendant could argue it if there was clear evidence to show that the failure in repayment was a direct consequence of the lack of the suitability test.
The equity of redemption
What is it
Concerns when the mortgage debt has been paid off, the mortgagor should be able to get the property back
What case defines the equity of redemption
Define it.
Dellway v NAMA
Finnegan J stated that the courts have to pay close attention to mortgage agreements in terms of the term for the mortgage to be redeemed. Some mortgagees will postpone for longer to allow for interest to accrue however this is unlawful.
Once the full repayment of debt has been made, the mortgagor has the right to the property, free of any mortgage terms.
Hardiman J stated that if the property is to be sold due to the mortgagor going into arrears, any outstanding costs accrued form the sale of property after the debt has been dully repaid is to go back to the mortgagor, and as a result the mortgagee has to sell the property to the true and full value
What are the three restrictions that the courts look out for?
- Prolongment of the right to redeem
- Collateral Advantages
- The option to purhcase
Prolongment of the right to redeem
Explain and state cases
The lender will increase the time the property can be redeemed when paying off the mortgage to accrue more interest.
Biggs v Hoddinoft
Fairclough v Swans Brewery
Kingscroft Trust v Byrne
Biggs v Hoddinoft
Facts: agreement that the mortgage can only be redeemed 5 years after the commencement of mortgage payments.
Held: Term was fair, it was not arbitrary or unreasonable. The courts will only address or scrutinise when the postponement is too long or excessive
Fairclough v Swans Brewey
Concerned a mortgage on a 20 year lease and mortgagee said only had a right to redeem 6 months before the lease ended.
Held: unreasonable, arbitrary and unfair postponement on the right to redeem.
Kingscroft Trust v Byrne
Concerned a mortgage agreement between 2 business men, mortgage had to be repaid over 40 years and redemption could only occur after the 40 years had ended
Held: not unfair as this was between 2 business owners with advanced commercial knowledge. The courts will only interfere in exceptional circumstances.
Collateral advantages
Explain and state cases
Concerns obtaining of interest as well as another addition to this
Biggs v Hoddinot
Noakes v Rice
Browne v Ryan
Biggs v Hoddinot
Concerned an agreement between pl and def that during the mortgage the mortgagor could only purchase alcohol from the mortgagee for his hotel business
Held: Not unreasonable as this was an agreement between 2 business ppl