Permanent TSB downplays buy-to-let contract issue

Permanent TSB has downplayed a media report that claims the bank is unable to appoint receivers to troubled buy-to-let properties.

RTÉ News reported on Wednesday that difficulties with mortgage contracts previously drawn up by the lender meant it had no option but to engage in a lengthy court process to repossess investment properties in arrears.

However, a spokesman for the bank said the problem with the contracts was already known about. He said it did not mean the lender couldn’t appoint receivers and merely meant a different process was required for buy-to-let properties that needed to be sold.

“There is nothing new in this and we’ve been working around it for the past number of years,” he said. “It has no impact on our ability to appoint rent receivers to buy-to-let properties.”

The bank said that where possible it aimed for consensual solutions with borrowers, meaning that receivers don’t need to be appointed in many cases.

In related news, the State-controlled lender has warned homeowners wishing to sell their houses that they may face delays due to a comprehensive review of mortgages being undertaken by the bank.

Permanent TSB established a Mortgage Product Review Group in September to scrutinise its suite of home loans and to establish whether there are any cases where the contractual terms and conditions attached to mortgage accounts were not being fully honoured by the bank. The move came after PTSB announced a "serious failure" in how it managed interest rates on 1,372 mortgage accounts earlier this year.

The issues involved PTSB’s failure to inform certain customers of the consequences of breaking early from a fixed-rate or discounted tracker period.