This week TheJournal.ie highlighted the impact of the tracker mortgage scandal with the case of 40-year-old Ray Flavin, who was charged the wrong rate of interest on his Bank of Ireland tracker mortgage. The widower and father-of-five is now fighting in the courts to keep his home, despite the bank’s admission of error. Yesterday we also revealed the Circuit Court granted the bank a possession order for almost 8 acres of his father’s land that it had no right to – a decision criticised by the Master of the High Court. Here, Ray Flavin speaks exclusively to TheJournal.ie about the impact this battle has had on his life and his family.
She made a perfect life for me there and I won’t let anyone take it, they’ll have to shoot me or knock it down around me.
RAYMOND FLAVIN’S WIFE Trish was 38 when she died suddenly in January this year.
Now he says he will do whatever he has to do to keep their five children in their home, as Bank of Ireland pushes ahead with its attempt to repossess his house.
The 40-year-old from Co Kerry took out a mortgage with Bank of Ireland in 2008 and with the help of friends he built a house for his family on his father’s land.
Five years later, he was seriously injured at work when a coach fell on top of him as he was working underneath it. He suffered seven ruptured discs in his back and was in a wheelchair for six months.
Flavin was out of work for almost a year in total and he fell back on the mortgage repayments. He said he approached the bank early on and managed to have the monthly payment rate reduced.
I knew that the arrears were going to keep building and it was only going to get worse,” he told TheJournal.ie.
However, he still could not afford to keep up with the payments as the family depended on disability benefit and a part-time wage Trish was bringing in.
In 2014, the bank started court proceedings against Flavin.
At the time, he was €18,000 in arrears.
“Since then it’s just a constant battle with them, there’s no talking to them, no leeway.
“It’s just been dragging on and dragging on. It’s been court date after court date,” Flavin, who has been representing himself in court (free legal aid does not cover property disputes), told TheJournal.ie.
“At first I was keeping it all to myself and eventually told my wife and naturally she tried to help but sure there was nothing she could do.”
In July last year, the bank was granted a possession order and he received a letter to inform him he had four months to vacate the house.
Flavin said the strain of their financial difficulties weighed heavily on his wife.
“We had three court dates here in Dublin, we went to the three court dates.
“Each time, the bank didn’t show up… Trish was panicking about it and got severe panic attacks – one actually in the Hub office. She just collapsed.”
On 7 January this year, the 38-year-old suffered a heart attack and died.
“They’re finding it very, very tough,” Flavin said of his five kids. The youngest are twins, a boy and girl, aged four. Their other son is six years old, while the two eldest girls are aged 11 and 16.
He was back in Dublin for a court appearance on 9 March, accompanied this time by his eldest daughter Aoife.
During the hearing, Master of the High Court Edmund Honohan reviewed his mortgage papers and the possession order and noticed a discrepancy.
Flavin’s mortgage was to cover his house, which is surrounded by 8 acres of his father’s land. The order, however, is for two plots – the plot the house was built on and the seven and three quarter acres of land surrounding it.
“The circuit court shouldn’t have given an order for possession of the seven and three quarter acres because that’s not part of your house,” Honohan told Flavin.
The High Court Master also accused Bank of Ireland’s legal representatives of attempting to take “the whole enchilada”.
“How did that happen?,” he asked, adding that he wanted “an explanation as to why they want an order on that”.
Honohan questioned the father-of-five, a man of few words, about how he intended to win this case, arguing his case with no legal background.
“I’ll do whatever I have to do,” he replied. “All my five kids have left is that house.”
He later told TheJournal.ie that it was simply not an option for him to hire professional legal representation.
“If I had that kind of money to be spending I’d be repaying my mortgage.” But as he sat with his daughter after the court hearing, he said he was not going down without a fight.
Since we moved into that house the first person she saw every morning was her mother. The last person she saw every night was her mother. Every day all through the day they were at home with their mother, everything they did in that house, it was all with her and for their mother to be gone now, that’s all they have left.
“I don’t care what they do, I won’t be giving it up. Not a hope in hell.”
In response to a query from TheJournal.ie, Bank of Ireland said it could not comment on individual customer accounts.
If you have been affected by the tracker mortgage scandal, we want to hear your story. Get in touch by sending a message to trackermortgage@thejournal.ie.
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