I thank the committee for having us here today. I am no longer the owner of a defective blocks home; my home was demolished earlier this year. I am currently in the process of rebuilding and trying to manage all the complications building a home entails, let alone in these circumstances, as well as paying a mortgage, rent, storage costs and a loan while we all deal with a cost-of-living crisis. Before I summarise the financial difficulties I have experienced thus far trying to finance the build, I will outline the lack of support, compassion and empathy from the banking sector - in my case, Permanent TSB. I can also answer questions the committee has on finances and provide a general overview of our journey since August 2022.
Upon receiving confirmation from our engineer in July 2021 that our home was recommended for demolition, I arranged a meeting with Permanent TSB to inform the bank of our circumstances. At that meeting, the bank placed a market value of €320,000 on our home. In that meeting, our home became valueless. For 18 months, I attempted to negotiate with Permanent TSB, first at branch level and I then contacted senior management, as the branch representative was clearly not in a position to offer any form of solution other than forbearance. I outlined a number of options I deemed favourable to both parties. However, the bank never negotiated or put in place specific supports for vulnerable defective block homeowners. It always responded, "We have agreed to support customers by way of payment breaks or applications for further advances, subject to credit assessment." The offer of a mortgage break would be an additional cost to me and credit only subject to normal lending criteria. Do members believe the banks should continue to profit from families who have to deal with this horrendous situation, which is not the fault of the homeowner?
Having nowhere else to turn, I raised a complaint with the ombudsman. Through a mediation process, it was deemed that the bank's position had not changed. It reiterated its final response, dated 15 August 2022. The ombudsman informed me that Permanent TSB responded, "This is not the bank's fault", a rather callous and unsupportive response, as we are all aware that this disaster occurred due to the lack of enforced regulations by Government and Government agencies. In addition, I respectfully remind the committee that the State retains a 57.4% shareholding in Permanent TSB. Further insult came in August 2022, when I received a letter from Permanent TSB informing me that the interest rate on my tracker mortgage was going to increase; it has continued to do so. Since that date in August, our mortgage interest rate has increased by 4%, which equates to an increase of almost €300 per month. I am currently paying more than €1,200 on a property that no longer exists. Do committee members consider this to be fair?
I contacted the European Central Bank and the Central Bank of Ireland, both of which confirmed it is at the lender's discretion to pass on interest rate hikes. Once again, I contacted senior
management in December 2022, requesting that they show an ounce of empathy and pause the continued increase in interest rates on the mortgages of owners of defective homes. The response from Permanent TSB was, "Unfortunately, we are not in a position to amend your tracker rate as this is your contractual rate of interest, which we must honour". Furthermore, the senior manager outlined, "I know that this is not what you had hoped but you will appreciate that we have many thousands of customers on tracker rates and we cannot change the rates for any particular customer segment." Time and time again, I attempted to highlight that owners of defective homes were in a devastatingly unique position with valueless properties through no fault of our own. That support should be considered as unprecedented circumstances and helping this customer segment.
In March 2023, I contacted the same manager and asked if the bank had since implemented anything specifically for defective block homeowners and if there were any further developments or indeed talks with Government, to which the bank responded:
We have supports in place for anyone that needs our help. There are no unique options for defective block owners as our standard supports cover everyone. There have been no further developments since we last exchanged emails.
Throughout this process, I have continued to pay the mortgage as I am aware of the callous nature of how banks sell on mortgage accounts in arrears. This is not about not paying the mortgage, but that banks accept they have a duty of care to vulnerable customers and a vested interest in the outcomes of their customers engaging with the defective blocks scheme and the shortfalls of said scheme. This is what brings us here today. Homeowners yet again are having to work in collaboration to form support groups to tackle these injustices. That is what it is - an injustice. The group worked tirelessly to find a clause; something that would grab the banks' attention. This is how the bank's own terms and conditions entered this minefield of institutional bureaucracy. Once again, an approach was made to Permanent TSB, to which it replied on 6 April 2023, "The bank confirms that for the purposes of clause 5.2 of your mortgage terms and conditions, the bank consents to the mica remediation works (“Works”) taking place in respect of the mortgage property." Permanent TSB continued:
I note from your letter that the Mica redress scheme is unlikely to cover the full cost of rebuilding your property. In this regard, while the bank has no obligation to advance further funding, the bank would be happy to consider any application that you may wish to make for additional borrowing. Such application will be subject to the bank’s usual lending terms and conditions and affordability criteria.
This was the final straw for me and I stopped contacting Permanent TSB. Every request proposed over the past 18 months has been met with indifference and lack of urgency or empathy.
It is profiteering and exploitation by the banking sector, which highlights a blatant disregard for ethical practices and the wellbeing of customers, as it continues to prioritise its financial gains over a vulnerable segment of its customers. If the enhanced scheme is delivered the same as the 90:10 scheme in that stage works must be completed before an interim payment is claimed and the banks do not offer 0% bridging finance and take a level of responsibility, homeowners will simply be unable to engage, especially if the banking sector continues to outline that finance is subject to normal lending criteria. There is nothing normal about our circumstances. Defective blocks homeowners need to be supported, not vilified by the very institutions that claim to have our interests as the core of their values. Permanent TSB and others must step up and deal with this disaster as unprecedented circumstances, not as financial difficulties. This burden has been thrust upon thousands of homeowners and, in the words of the senior manager, "This is not the bank's fault," yet it most certainly is not the homeowner's fault. We are left to rebuild our lives and homes while trying to stay sane and cope with not living the life we should be because this has been ripped from us.