Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2013

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Adjournment of proceedings to facilitate making of proposal for Personal Insolvency Arrangement

2. (1) This section applies to land which is the principal private residence of—

(a) the mortgagor of the land concerned, or

(b) a person without whose consent a conveyance of that land would be void by reason of—

(i) the Family Home Protection Act 1976 , or

(ii) the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 .

(2) In any proceedings brought by a mortgagee seeking an order for possession of land to which the mortgage relates and which land is land to which this section applies, the court, without prejudice to any other power which a court may have to adjourn proceedings, may—

(a) of its own motion, if it considers it appropriate to do so,

(b) on application being made to the court by a relevant person and, having regard to the matters specified in subsection (3), if it considers it appropriate to do so,

adjourn the proceedings for a period not exceeding 2 months to enable the relevant person—

(i) to consult with a personal insolvency practitioner with a view to the making of a proposal for a Personal Insolvency Arrangement, and

(ii) where appropriate, to instruct the personal insolvency practitioner to make a proposal for a Personal Insolvency Arrangement under the Act of 2012.

(3) The court in considering an application under subsection (2)(b) shall have regard to such matters as it considers appropriate and in particular shall have regard to the following:

(a) whether the mortgagor has participated in any process relating to mortgage arrears operated by the mortgagee concerned which has been approved or required by the Central Bank of Ireland and which process relates to the land the subject of the mortgage;

(b) whether the mortgagor has made any payments to the mortgagee in respect of monies advanced on foot of or secured by the mortgage in the 12 months immediately preceding the application and, if so, the amount of any such payments, the number and frequency of such payments, and the proportion which the amounts paid bear to the amount of any regular payments which the mortgagor was required to make under the terms of the mortgage or any associated loan agreement;

(c) whether the proceedings have been adjourned on any previous occasion at the request of the mortgagor, and, if so, the number of any such adjournments and the period of such adjournments and the reasons for such adjournments;

(d) the conduct of the parties to the mortgage in any attempt to find a resolution to the issue of dealing with arrears of payments due on foot of the mortgage; and

(e) whether, having regard to the circumstances of the case, the application for an adjournment appears to the court to be primarily for the purpose of delaying the progress of the proceedings.

(4) On the expiry of any period of adjournment granted under subsection (2), the court may grant a further adjournment of the proceedings concerned where it considers that significant progress has been made in the preparation of a proposal for a Personal Insolvency Arrangement.

(5) Where the court adjourns proceedings under this section, the court may, where it considers it appropriate to do so, direct that the proceedings stand adjourned to another venue within the same circuit of the Circuit Court.

(6) This section applies as respects mortgages created before or after the coming into operation of Part 10 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 .

(7) In this section and section 3 —

“Act of 2012” means the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 ;

“conveyance”7 has the same meaning as it has in the Family Home Protection Act 1976 ;

“mortgage” means a deed of mortgage and includes a charge;

“mortgagee” includes a person deriving title from a mortgagee and a receiver appointed by the mortgagee;

“Personal Insolvency Arrangement” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2012;

“personal insolvency practitioner” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2012;

“relevant person” means a person—

(a) who is a party to the proceedings referred to in subsection (2), and

(b) who is a person who may, under the provisions of the Act of 2012, make a proposal for a Personal Insolvency Arrangement.