England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO APPEAL
AND A STAY OF EXECUTION

		Royal Courts of Justice Strand London WC2 Monday, 5th November 2001

1. LORD JUSTICE WARD: This is an application by Mrs Quinn for permission to appeal the order made by His Honour Judge Spittle on 8th June 2001. He was hearing an appeal from District Judge Bailey who, on 22nd February 2001, had dismissed Mrs Quinn's application which was, in effect, to vary the terms upon which she was to pay off the arrears under certain charges on her home.
2. On the face of it, this is a well nigh impossible appeal for Mrs Quinn; first, because it is a second appeal and she has therefore to show that an important point of principle or practice arises or there is some other compelling reason for the court to hear it; and secondly because, on the face of it, what the judge was doing was bending over backwards, as I am, to assist her.
3. I am taking the unusual course of adjourning this application and I will stay the execution of the orders for possession pending this adjournment. I am doing so because (a) the borrowers seem to be in liquidation. They do not seem too bothered to pursue the remedy they have. They have not apparently sought to execute a warrant for possession even though until now there has been no stay. They seem so lacking in concern for their money that they do not attract any sympathy from me. In any event, the addition of further amounts of money are likely to be as irrecoverable as the rest of their debt if it is a genuine debt.
4. The second reason for my adjourning it is that I am pretty appalled that a borrowing of a total of, say, £40,000 - borrowed, as to £31,000 of it, in October 1996 and, as to the other £9,000 of it, in September 1998 - should, notwithstanding some but not regular repayments, have left a total of nearly £73,000 outstanding when the matter was before the judge in June 2001. In other words, in less than five years the amount of the borrowing had practically doubled. I may be quite wrong about this, I may completely misunderstand how the sums are calculated. But I would like to give Mrs Quinn an opportunity to check the calculations to see whether there is some fresh evidence she might bring that the amount required to redeem the mortgage is so much less than £73,000 - the figure put before the judge - that by she going to borrowers who are not charging high rates of interest she might have a chance of persuading them to lend her the money.
5. I will adjourn this matter to be listed not before 5th December but, if possible, before the end of this term. It can be reserved to me. If necessary, it can be listed either early in the morning or, given Mrs Quinn's difficulties in travelling from Middlesbrough, later in the afternoon. In the meantime Mrs Quinn should return to the Citizens Advice Bureau. She should hurry along there this afternoon and speak, if possible, to the lady there whose name is Yvonne and ascertain from her how to contact the Office of Fair Trading in order that they can check the calculation in time for the figures to be put before me when the matter returns in a month's time. The Office of Fair Trading may be able to do sufficiently rough and ready calculations to confirm the approximate accuracy of the £73,000 figure. What I want to know is whether it is more or less right and whether there is any reasonable chance that Mrs Quinn could raise money to pay off the full amount owing within a reasonable time.
6. A copy of this transcript can be provided for her to show the Office of Fair Trading. But she should speak to the Citizens Advice Bureau and, if necessary, get them to speak to my clerk when I will further explain what I wish them to do if they can possibly achieve it.
7. Mrs Quinn, you have a month more. I do not think it is going to help you much. You must do another thing. I am sorry to make you cry again, as I probably will. Listen to me. You had better go to your local authority, to the homeless section, and tell them you are likely to be made homeless and you will be looking for the council to re-house you because I do not see how you can afford to borrow £50,000, £60,000, even at the low rates of interest available today, when you do not have a job, you do not have the ability at the moment to repay that mortgage at all. No one is going to lend you money until you have a job.
Order: Application adjourned