OREANDA-NEWS. April 03, 2015. The Central Bank of Ireland today publishes the outcome of the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets (MART) for Quarter 4 2014. The targets cover both proposed and concluded sustainable solutions with respect to the lenders’ Republic of Ireland principal dwelling home / primary residence (‘PDH’) and buy-to-let (‘BTL’) mortgagees, and specifically centres on resolving arrears cases which are 90 days or more overdue.

The lenders[1] covered by the targets report that they met the Central Bank’s MART requirements for Q4 2014. Table 1 provides a summary of aggregate performance against the Q4 targets.

The Q4 2014 figures (PDH and BTL combined) show 104,938 proposed solutions and 67,617 concluded solutions reported to date (see Table 2 below).  Proposed and concluded solutions increased by 4,625 and 7,194 respectively over the quarter with the majority of the change due to increases in the restructure category, a common trend throughout 2014.

Of the reported concluded solutions, 40,837 (60%) relate to repayment and restructure arrangements, including: split mortgages, term extensions, arrears capitalisations and borrowers clearing their arrears. 91% of the concluded restructure and insolvency solutions are reported to be meeting the terms of the arrangements.

PDH Concluded Solutions

67%, or 34,279, of the reported PDH concluded solutions relate to repayment and restructure arrangements agreed bilaterally between borrowers and lenders, which seek to deliver an affordable mortgage payment aimed at keeping borrowers in their homes.

Of the reported PDH concluded solutions to date, 16,683 (33%), involve potential loss of ownership outcomes. 15% of these cases involve voluntary sale/surrender agreements with the balance relating to cases where lenders are involved in different stages of repossession proceedings with borrowers, with the majority of these cases involving borrowers that have been classified as non-cooperating.

Where the lenders take legal action that may result in loss of ownership for a borrower, they are required to comply with the CCMA for PDH mortgages and must be prepared to re-engage with the borrower and explore alternative solutions where the borrower re-engages. Therefore, even where repossession proceedings are in progress, in many cases lenders and borrowers may still agree an alternative solution through meaningful engagement by both parties and avoid repossession as an ultimate outcome.   

BTL Concluded Solutions

Of the BTL concluded solutions 40%, or 6,558, relate to repayment and restructure arrangements. Almost 60% of the reported BTL concluded solutions involve potential loss of ownership. Of the 9,623 concluded loss of ownership solutions, c. 25% involve voluntary sale / surrender agreements with the remainder subject to repossession proceedings or the appointment of receivers.

[1] Mortgage Arrears Resolution Targets apply to Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, permanent tsb, Ulster Bank, ACC and KBC Bank.