The Northern Ireland Court Service today published statistics for writs and originating summonses issued in respect of mortgages in the Chancery Division of the Northern Ireland High Court.
During the first quarter of 2009, 1,020 writs and originating summonses were issued. The comparable figure for the first quarter in 2008 was 754 showing a 35% increase in the number of mortgage cases received in Chancery against the same period in 2008.
There were 743 mortgage cases disposed of during the same time period.
1. Northern Ireland Court Service collects information on writs and
originating summonses issued in respect of mortgages in Chancery Division of the
Northern Ireland High Court. This relates to both domestic and commercial
properties.
2. Not all writs and originating summonses lead to eviction or re/possession. A
plaintiff begins an action for an order for possession of property. The court,
following a judicial hearing, may grant an order for possession. This entitles
the plaintiff to apply to have the defendant evicted. However, even where an
order for eviction is issued the parties can still negotiate a compromise to
prevent eviction.
3. Over the last 5 years, the number of writs and originating summonses relating
to mortgages issued (i.e. mortgage cases received) by Chancery Division of the
Northern Ireland High Court has been:
| Year | Number of applications received | % difference on previous year |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 2,152 | +9% |
| 2005 | 2,562 | +19% |
| 2006 | 2,523 | -2% |
| 2007 | 2,213 | -12% |
| 2008 | 3,628 | +64% |
4. In Jan - Mar 2009, there were 743 mortgage cases disposed of with 746 orders made. A breakdown of the orders made is shown in the graph below.
5. Possession. The court orders the defendant to deliver possession of the property to the plaintiff within a specified time. If the defendant fails to comply with the court order the plaintiff may proceed to apply to the Enforcement of Judgments Office to repossess the property and give possession of it to the plaintiff.
6. Suspended Possession. The court may postpone the date for delivery of
possession if it is satisfied that the defendant is likely to be able, within a
reasonable period, to pay any sums due under the mortgage, or to remedy any
other breach of the obligations under the mortgage. A suspended possession order
cannot be enforced
by the plaintiff without the permission of the court, which will only be granted
after a further hearing.
7. Sale and Possession. If the plaintiff seeks possession of property which is subject to an ‘equitable mortgage’ (i.e. normally one created informally by the deposit of deeds rather than the execution of a mortgage deed) the court may order a sale of the property to enable enforcement of the equitable mortgage and that the defendant give up possession for that purpose. The sale price is subject to approval by the court.
8. When a case is disposed of it may have more than one final order made.
9. On 15th November 2004, the Chancery Office introduced the Integrated Court Operations System (ICOS); which was rolled out across all court business. From this date, all the analysis for mortgage statistics comes from ICOS. As it is a different system, caution should be taken when comparing figures from before the 15 November 2004.
10. The statistics are taken from those available on 5th May 2009 and are provisional.
11. Figures on mortgage possession actions are published on a quarterly basis. The publication date for the figures covering the second quarter of 2009 will be 14th August 2009.
If you have any further queries in this or other court related matters please
contact: Communications Group
Northern Ireland Court Service
Laganside House
23-27 Oxford Street
Belfast
BT1 3LA
Tel. 028 90412387