Media articles from THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

[BelfastVI]

Under-valued homes are targeted in property tax clampdown

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/undervalued-homes-are-targeted-in-property-tax-clampdown-30080438.html

HOMEOWNERS who under-valued their properties by as much as €300,000 will be among the first to be targeted in a clampdown on property tax evasion.

The Revenue Commissioners will begin writing to owners from early next month asking how they arrived at the valuation, and will also seek proof that the property is worth less than neighbouring houses.

A March 31 deadline is in place for people to provide a correct valuation for the property tax, which came into force last July.

Details of the enforcement campaign came as Revenue unveiled a new computer system which allows it to check if people have deliberately undervalued their properties.

The above is to do with the RoI new Rates (Property Tax) System

[Shotoflight]

Family allowed to keep home as AIB writes off €150,000 on €400,000 loan

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0312/601666-aib-debt-writedown/

Last November, AIB entered into an arrangement with the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation, a group that was set-up to help struggling borrowers.

Since the arrangement was put in place, a number of deals have been done between the bank and its customers that involve debt writedown.

This latest deal involves a married couple, who have two children, with a mortgage of €400,000, which had become unmanageable.

Under the deal, AIB agreed to write off €150,000 of the loan, as well as parking a portion of it on condition that the owners continue to pay capital and interest on around €200,000.

[Shotoflight]

Falling profits at pharma firms blamed for drop in last year's GDP figures

http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/0313/601999-cso-gdp-figures/

The latest Quarterly National Account figures from the Central Statistics Office show that Gross Domestic Product fell by 0.3% in 2013.

However, figures for the domestic economy, as measured by Gross National Product, show it grew by 3.4%, which is in line with recent growth in employment.

The CSO stressed that today's figures were preliminary and will be revised.

Parts of the economy that did expand last year included the construction industry, which grew by 10%, while the agriculture sector expanded by 7%.

Today's figures also reveal that the economy contracted by a worse than expected 2.3% in the fourth quarter from the previous three months as imports surged and consumer spending fell.

[Shotoflight]

New wave of families seek debt deals

Jump in struggling mortgage holders asking for help after €150,000 write-off for one couple

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/new-wave-of-families-seek-debt-deals-30088298.html

Banks and financial advisers have been inundated with mortgage customers who are in arrears and seeking debt deals.

It follows revelations in the Irish Independent that a family got €150,000 forgiven from their mortgage – one of the biggest mortgage debt forgiveness deals in this country.

Now there have been fresh calls for banks to set out the criteria they are using when they write off mortgage debt.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the mortgage write-down by AIB as "good news" for the family concerned.

Mr Kenny said banks have got to cut deals that financially distressed borrowers can adhere to, and allow families to get on with their lives.

Banks noted an upsurge in calls yesterday from mortgage holders in arrears hoping to get similar deals.

And David Hall, director of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation, the group that negotiated the debt forgiveness deal, said there had been six-fold increase in calls and emails to its offices. "We have had about 1,000 phone calls and emails,"he added.

Six big banks giving deals to more mortgage holders in arrears

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/six-big-banks-giving-deals-to-more-mortgage-holders-in-arrears-30089764.html

[BelfastVI]

New wave of families seek debt deals

Jump in struggling mortgage holders asking for help after €150,000 write-off for one couple

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/new-wave-of-families-seek-debt-deals-30088298.html

Banks and financial advisers have been inundated with mortgage customers who are in arrears and seeking debt deals.

It follows revelations in the Irish Independent that a family got €150,000 forgiven from their mortgage – one of the biggest mortgage debt forgiveness deals in this country.

Now there have been fresh calls for banks to set out the criteria they are using when they write off mortgage debt.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the mortgage write-down by AIB as "good news" for the family concerned.

Mr Kenny said banks have got to cut deals that financially distressed borrowers can adhere to, and allow families to get on with their lives.

Banks noted an upsurge in calls yesterday from mortgage holders in arrears hoping to get similar deals.

And David Hall, director of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation, the group that negotiated the debt forgiveness deal, said there had been six-fold increase in calls and emails to its offices. "We have had about 1,000 phone calls and emails,"he added.

Six big banks giving deals to more mortgage holders in arrears

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/six-big-banks-giving-deals-to-more-mortgage-holders-in-arrears-30089764.html

is the genie out of the bottle now?

[BelfastVI]

I'm beyond disgusted with this. So much for the honest taxpayer with the sense to know it was the wrong time to buy. He sees his feckless neighbour bailed out at the taxpayers expense.

I totally agree. the family that scratched and saved a good deposit and then paid down their loans, with 'taxed dollars' gets no discount, whilst the freckles walks. The backlash from this could be quite something.

[little fish]

A corrupt system that rewards stupidity...

If I was a mortgage payer with one of these banks I would be seriously considering just not paying.

[BelfastVI]

A corrupt system that rewards stupidity...

If I was a mortgage payer with one of these banks I would be seriously considering just not paying.

wont work if you have the income/assets.

[little fish]

wont work if you have the income/assets.

Yeah - see they have you if you try to do things right!! I'm cross about this and it doesn't directly affect me, heaven knows how I'd feel if I had been struggling to pay for years, just about managed it and then saw others getting 'let off' 150,000.

Anyway it will be interesting to see what the reaction is. So far, on Twitter anyway, there is no interest, let alone any backlash.

[zamo]

You would think they would have learnt their lesson at this stage.

Enda Kenny

“It is true to say that because of the cluster effect of Dublin and its attractiveness as an international location, that demand for housing has risen seriously again, and houses that have been withdrawn from the market on a Friday have gone up by €20,000 or €30,000 on a Monday,” he said.

“To get that spread throughout the country is where we need to be.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/taoiseach-says-pent-up-demand-causing-sharp-property-price-rises-1.1729997

[Shotoflight]

John Moran: Top civil servant questions our obsession with home ownership

Calls for thorough debate on future of housing in Ireland

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/john-moran-top-civil-servant-questions-our-obsession-with-home-ownership-30109146.html

Speaking at a property conference in Dublin, he said it was time for in-depth discussions on whether it was necessary for everyone to live in a "three-bedroom house" when more and more people were committing to renting long-term.

"There may be a need to address fully the idea of everyone needing a three-bedroom house in Dublin and if that is the right way to go about planning long-term.

"That could raise a scenario, which I wouldn't like to get into, of a Los Angeles-type sprawl of Dublin with three-bedroom houses all the way out to Kildare and surrounding counties while the city centre gets hollowed out again even as the overall population grows," he warned.

The number of households renting is now higher than at any point over the past four decades, having risen steadily since 2000.

The civil servant explained that the arrival of overseas investors and new investment tools had "professionalised" the rental market in such a way as to make renting for the long-term a viable option. Up to now the rental market was very fragmented but that was changing – the change was giving tenants security in the long term, he said.

"That change on its own alters the role of the banks because then fewer mortgages are needed," he added.

Mr Moran also predicted that as the banks worked out the huge number of mortgages that were in arrears there would be a jump in the number of people for social housing.

"You only have to look at the mortgage arrears numbers to know there is a pent-up demand for it (social housing) and as the mortgage backlog is worked through there is an inevitability that some of those people will end up on the social housing register and add to the 100,000 already there."

[Shotoflight]

Revenue collects €1.5m in property tax each day

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/revenue-collects-15m-in-property-tax-each-day-30109144.html

THE Revenue Commissioner has collected almost €1.5m a day in household charges after it threatened to haul homeowners before the courts for not paying up before the end of the month.

The surge in payments follows Revenue's warning that it would impose tough penalties and interest and pursue enforcement action on property owners refusing to pay by the March 31 deadline.

Property owners continuing to defy the demand from the taxman may even receive a call from the sheriff, and tax clearance certificates could also be refused.

There are a still around 260,000 homeowners facing sanctions or possible prosecution if they do not meet the looming cut-off date.

The spokeswoman said around 12,000 mandatory deductions have been taken from people's pensions and pay packets, and there has been more than 3,000 tax clearance refusals for homeowners refusing to cough up.

Revenue also intends to punish people who have undervalued their properties or claimed exemptions from the tax they are not entitled to.

In two weeks' time, Revenue will begin adding further penalties and interest to the tax owed by those refusing to pay the charge.

Enforcement action could ultimately follow and property owners face a visit from the sheriff or further legal action.

[okaycuckoo]

Merrill's Irish Bank Rescue Estimate EU47 Billion Off Mark

Merrill Lynch & Co. told the Irish government in 2008 it would cost 16.4 billion euros ($22.8 billion) at most to rescue its banks, a quarter of the eventual bill for bailing out its financial system. Merrill produced the estimate in a 45-page presentation to the Dublin-based Irish finance ministry on Nov. 18, 2008, according to documents released by the government after a freedom-of-information request by opposition lawmaker Pearse Doherty. Ireland paid the firm 7.3 million euros for banking advice in 2008 and 2009.

Since the estimate, Irish taxpayers have been forced to pledge about 64 billion euros to rescue the nation’s banks after the worst real estate crash in Western Europe. In November 2010, the country sought an international bailout as it struggled with the mounting cost of propping up the banks.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-20/merrill-s-irish-bank-rescue-estimate-eu47-billion-off-mark.html

Merrill will say: Irish state was responsible for all faulty data, because they were the licensors and regulators of the banks. Nuffink to do with us.

I think the Irish also took advice from Basil Geoghegan of Goldman Sachs.

[Shotoflight]

Building a better way of housing

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/building-a-better-way-of-housing-30112700.html

22,000 households are in housing stress. Only 7,000 of the 11,000 homes we need annually are being built. 36% of young adults in Northern Ireland are still living with their parents – the highest rate in the UK.

There are no quick fixes. However, with our Government partners, housing associations are leading efforts to provide more homes for people in need.

Associations match Department for Social Development grants pound for pound with their own funds, doubling the number of homes that could otherwise be delivered.

This year, 1,300 new social homes will be started and more than 1,000 first-time buyers will be helped by Co-Ownership.

For 2014/15, the target for new social homes increases sharply from 1,300 to 2,000.

Achieving this 50% increase is possible, but not without concerted action across the Northern Ireland Executive to unblock many barriers to delivery.

Most urgent is a game-changer on land supply. Too many sites are still tied-up with the banks and Nama. Public bodies must do all they can to bring forward their unused land.

[Shotoflight]

Bank of Ireland to pay stamp duty for first-time buyers

Experts say move has echoes of boom time lending and incentives

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/bank-of-ireland-to-pay-stamp-duty-for-firsttime-buyers-30148751.html

[Shotoflight]

Former solicitor jailed for €8.8m land purchase fraud

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0407/607248-solicitor-jailed-for-land-purchase-fraud/

A former solicitor has been jailed for two years for his role in an €8.8 million land purchase fraud.

His client has been given a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence.

John Duffy, 44, from Clogheen, Monasterevin in Co Kildare and his client Tony McAuliffe, 71, from French Furze, Co Kildare pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining a loan of the money from Investec Bank with the intention of making a gain in March 2007.

The land was to be sold on for €17m but the property business collapsed and the money could not be repaid.

The 55 acres in Co Offaly are now worth just €35,000.

Judge Leonie Reynolds criticised Investec saying if it had carried out the most rudimentary checks the fraud would have been exposed.

She also said the deal was indicative of the lax lending practices of the banking sector at the time.

The case has been described as a lesson the country has learned in the madness of "get rich quick" before the property bubble burst.

McAuliffe is functionally illiterate but his solicitor Duffy created and prepared the contract as well as a letter saying he had a deposit of €7m, money he never had.

They stood to make a profit of €9m. Instead they lost the €9m they borrowed to buy land.

Judge Reynolds described Duffy's actions as an unacceptable abuse of his position as a solicitor and sentenced him to three years in prison, suspending the final year.

However, because of McAuliffe's exceptional personal circumstances she said she was taking the unusual step in such a case of suspending his two-and-a-half-year sentence.

[Shotoflight]

Permanent TSB expects to repossess between 2,000 and 4,000 homes

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0409/607741-finance-committee/

Permanent TSB has told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that it expects to repossess a total of between 2,000 and 4,000 homes as a result of the mortgage crisis.

Shane O'Sullivan, Managing Director at the bank's Asset Management & Non-Core Units division, said the repossessions would consist of mostly buy-to-let and some family homes.

Last year the bank repossessed 60 homes but said it expects that figure will reach the hundreds this year.

The bank told the committee that it has initiated legal proceedings against 1,500 customers in the past three months.

[Shotoflight]

AIB taking 'aggressive stance' against buy to let mortgages in arrears

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/aib-taking-aggressive-stance-against-buy-to-let-mortgages-in-arrears-30170891.html

Fine Gael TD Kieran O'Donnell said an estimate by the bank that 80pc of 2,570 investment mortgages in deep arrears will be repossessed suggests an "aggressive" approach.

AIB chief executive David Duffy said the bank regards buy to let investments as being like any other investment rather than family homes.

Some 800 investment properties are under the control of receivers, the bank said.

AIB repossessed 58 family home last year, up from 20 in 2012. The bank has kicked off legal proceedings against 2,500 borrowers in relation to a mortgage on their main home.

Earlier Permanent TSB confirmed it expects to repossess "thousands" of homes as it works through mortgage arrears targets.

[Shotoflight]

There's no housing bubble – Michael Noonan wants prices to rise

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/property-mortgages/theres-no-housing-bubble-michael-noonan-wants-prices-to-rise-30168455.html

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan wants house prices to rise further and claims fears of another property bubble in Dublin are exaggerated.

Speaking at the 'Sunday Independent Business Evening ' last night, Mr Noonan also said the Government will use the state property agency NAMA to tackle the housing shortage. "We need to get property prices up another bit," he told the Dublin event.

While dismissing talk of another boom, the minister conceded he was "worried" about Dublin's shortage of housing .

Mr Noonan revealed NAMA would join forces with developers to build more than 22,000 homes over the next five years.

[Shotoflight]

Repossessions are still taking too long, claims chief of Ulster Bank

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/property-mortgages/repossessions-are-still-taking-too-long-claims-chief-of-ulster-bank-30167952.html

Ulster Bank executive Stephen Bell told the committee that 4,300 mortgages that were in arrears were in a "legal process".

An additional 3,000 legal cases were likely, he said.

Around 50pc of those in a court process re-engaged with the bank, he added.

Mr Brown said the bank's position was that the vast majority of people could remain in their home, including by deprioritising unsecured debt such as credit card and credit union loans to pay off their mortgage. Typically, customers were paying 60 cents off unsecured debt for every €1 paid off their mortgage, Mr Brown said, despite the loans being much smaller and less secure for the lender.

The bank said that it did not write off any secured debt for customers.

Mortgage write-offs have happened in cases where a home has been sold and residual debt, now classed as an unsecured loans, has been written off.

[little fish]

Anglo - Sean Fitzpatrick - innocent

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0416/609310-anglo-irish-bank-trial/

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/not-guilty-fitzpatrick-thanks-family-for-support-during-years-of-great-personal-difficulty-30192534.html

[Shotoflight]

NAMA may be used to control rising property prices

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0416/609211-nama/

A review of NAMA this year is required under the act that set up the agency, and Mr Noonan said he has posed specific questions as part of that process.

He said NAMA owned about 2,500 acres of development land, primarily in Dublin, which could even be used to reign in rising property prices.

"I've asked them if they have any suggestions on how we could work that, and would it be possible to use it as a brake on the market, but there probably isn't enough of it," he said.

He referred to efforts in the 1990s to take the heat out of the property market, with Stamp Duty used as the principal mechanism which Mr Noonan said made the situation worse.

"I think we should be looking at a different set of mechanisms this time", he said.

He suggested the Finance Committee could hold a discussion with him on this issue at some time in the future, and he said he would publish as much information on the NAMA review as he could, subject to commercial sensitivities.

[okaycuckoo]

Anglo - Sean Fitzpatrick - innocent

http://www.rte.ie/ne...ish-bank-trial/

http://www.independe...y-30192534.html

Ouch.

[Venger]

Dublin house price boom sparks fears over asset bubble

Irish capital's rich postcode areas see 22% increase in property prices while costs outside the capital remain stagnant

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/07/dublin-property-bubble-house-price-boom

The Irish capital is at the centre of a new house price boom, according to a survey this week that named Dublin as the world's fifth fastest rising property market, and raised concerns over a new asset bubble in the republic.

The banks of the River Liffey are hosting a resurgent property market that is exceeded only by Jakarta, Auckland, Bali and Christchurch, said estate agency Knight Frank.

Its report on global house prices found that Dublin property prices rose faster than Los Angeles, Tokyo and Dubai, with values increasing by 17.5% in 2013 compared with the previous year.

Is this really happening?

April 6, 2014

http://colmbrazel.wordpress.com/

Queuing for Dublin’s reignited property bubble, economy turning the corner, or bubbles from a drowning corpse?

Welcome to the Irish Property Market. All Irish ministers were away on junkets for St Patrick’s Day living it up on their high salaries while this Gazumping was going on: attached photo with prospective house buyers queuing outside a property in North County Dublin in March.

[little fish]

Yeah, it's happening. Gets discussed frequently. Goldfish memories. Good forum chat on link.

http://www.politics.ie/forum/economy/218518-could-dublin-house-prices-double-dip-230.html

Edited April 20, 2014 by neontetra