There are concerns that some Waterford home owners who are in arrears are being prematurely charged for legal costs before any decision has been made by the court.

It comes after three repossession cases were given lengthy adjournments at Waterford Circuit Court earlier this week to allow for further investigation.

A mortgage adviser from the Money Advice and Budgeting Service told the court last Monday that there concerns with the policies of three different lenders in repossession cases.

One of these was that legal costs were being added to mortgage statements on ongoing cases ahead of any decision being made by the court.

Mabs – a State run advice service for those dealing with debt – argues that legal fees cannot be prematurely applied. It discovered the practice by three lenders when examining the statements of debtors.

The adviser also told the court that evidence could be provided of a case elsewhere in the country, where a refund of several thousand euro was provided to one of its clients after it was shown their tax relief at source (TRS) credit was not being factored into their mortgage arrears correctly, resulting in the arrears appearing higher than they actually are.

Cases were adjourned by the registrar for eight months to allow for further investigations into both issues.

It’s understood there are up to 40 cases in Waterford that will now be examined to see if the TRS problem affects them.

The issue of legal costs being added to mortgage statements before a court decision is made is understood to be widespread in repossession cases.