‘This could have been avoided’

Family get apology over wrongly repossessed home

Seven years it took. When the words of a long-awaited apology were read out in High Court No 5 last week they washed over Martin O’Reilly, and as if by miracle, lifted a great weight from the Cavan man’s shoulders.

It acknowledged the “trespass” committed on a property at Drumcor, Loughduff, owned by Martin and his wife Teresa in October 21, 2016, and the “hurt and distress” this caused.

“We apologise wholeheartedly and hope that our settlement with both of them will show our bona fides,” stated Paul O’Higgins senior counsel for the defendants.

“We are happy to accept that the O’Reillys do not, and did not at the time, owe any monies and were not in debt to us or to our clients. We accept that, they are rightfully proud of their solvent status.

“They are entitled to their good name and we hope that this agreement will help them achieve this,” the statement ended.

In hindsight, Martin describes the moment as “bittersweet”.

“It never had to get that far. Seven years,” he says, his voice trailing. “Seven years,” he repeats again, more slowly, a rueful shake of his head.

In a small upstairs home office Martin pats a large folder spilling over with papers sitting on a desk next to his laptop.

“This was my life.”

There were “dark” times too feeling up against the receivers from Ernst & Young, a global firm appointed by mortgage and loan servicer BCM Global to repossess a different house, but instead, repossessed the O’Reillys’ home.

“The pressure of it all, it puts you in a dark place,” says Martin, who each day left his home with a “fake smile” to “mask the terrible hurt underneath. It was unbearable at times.”

“When everyone else was asleep at night I’d be up here in the office.”

It was only after reporting the matter to both gardaí and their solicitor that the O’Reillys learned their house had been wrongly repossessed, and then set about suing the receivers - Andrew Dolliver and Luke Charlton of EY and others for defamation.

Despite the error and the impact this had on the Reilly’s standing, Martin says the defendants defended the case.

The case was initially listed as a four day hearing before a judge and jury in July, but a u-turn saw liability finally admitted.

When next listed for the first week of November, the final outcome was inadvertently delayed because instructions could not be got from the owners of BCM Global. The next day (Thursday, November 2) Justice Tony O’Connor was informed by the O’Reillys’ legal team that an apology had been agreed and the case settled in full.

The apology was signed by Mssers Dolliver and Charlton, with consent for adjudication for the plaintiff’s costs, and the case struck out.

Martin then thanked Justice O’Connor personally for presiding over the court and the vindication of his family’s good name.

He says he was left “stunned” back in October 2016 upon finding that the locks on the house he had been working on at the time had been changed and a deadbolt put on.

“To have our house repossessed and improperly taken the way it was, and then to be defamed in such a manner in our community, it has had a serious affect on us.”

He believes, even now, that the simplest of searches on the land registry could have found out that he and his wife were the rightful owners of the property.

What did occur however, states Martin, was a “serious slur on our reputation”, and had the affect that people wrongly assumed their house had been repossessed. “People talk. Aren’t we all human. But how could they have got it so wrong? We never owed anyone money. But word spreads like wildfire. All I ever wanted was to restore our good name in the community.

“It’s a warning for others,” says Martin.

After the proceedings were formally struck out, Martin is happy to draw a line under the ordeal.

“That’s it, that’s the end of the matter,” he says, determined for his family to begin “to move on” with their lives.

“My property is no bigger than a paper clip to [the likes of EY],” suggests Martin, who was advised by some not to proceed with his action. “Sure what would I be doing taking on the likes of Ernst and Young? If I lost we’d lose everything. But I was 100% we were in the right, and however long it took, we’d be vindicated in the end. Truth and justice had to prevail.”

The O’Reillys’ Georgian style brick seven-bedroomed three-story house, with views of three counties from the uppermost level, was valued at around €350,000 at the time it was wrongly repossessed.

Martin says the O’Reillys will now sell the house which was still under construction at the time the locks were put on the doors in error. Left for seven years he’ll begin refurbishment works soon. There has already been interest.

“The good has gone out of it,” he claims, his tone one of disappointment. “This all could have been wrapped up in a couple of months. So much of this could have been avoided.”

Ernst & Young were contacted for comment.