Abhaile - free mortgage arrears support

What services does Abhaile provide?

There are 6 separate advice and support services available under the Abhaile scheme, as follows:

Dedicated Mortgage Arrears advisers

There is a network of Dedicated Mortgage Arrears (DMA) advisers based in MABS offices nationwide. DMA advisers provide independent expert advice to people in mortgage arrears and act as the first port of call for applicants to the Abhaile scheme.

Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP) service

A panel of Personal Insolvency Practitioners (pdf) has been set up under the Abhaile scheme. If you wish to explore your options under personal insolvency, MABS can give you a voucher for free advice and help from one of these PIPs. You can choose your PIP from the Abhaile scheme panel, subject to availability.

The voucher will entitle you to a face-to-face consultation with a PIP. The PIP will carry out a full assessment of your financial situation, explain all the available options and the best option for you to deal with your mortgage arrears, and confirm that advice to you in writing. The PIP will also prepare a Prescribed Financial Statement (PFS) with you. This is a detailed written analysis of your financial situation, as required under the personal insolvency legislation.

If the PIP advises that your best option is personal insolvency, they will help you in taking the next steps. If they advise that your best option is bankruptcy, they will also provide you with the certificate required by the bankruptcy court, confirming that you have been advised regarding your options under personal insolvency.

You are eligible for the Personal Insolvency Court Review Service under the Abhaile scheme (see below) if you are insolvent and in mortgage arrears and your creditors have rejected your proposal for a Personal Insolvency Arrangement (PIA) that included your home.

Accountant service

If your case involves complicated financial issues, but is not suited to personal insolvency, MABS can give you a voucher for free financial advice from an accountant under the Scheme. An accountancy panel has been set up, listing accountants who participate in the Abhaile scheme. You can choose your accountant from this panel, subject to availability.

You will first need to work with a MABS adviser to complete the Standard Financial Statement (SFS) that lenders require under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP). The accountant will need a copy of this statement in order to give you financial advice.

The voucher will entitle you to a face-to-face consultation with the panel accountant. The accountant will advise you on any financial issues relating to resolution of your mortgage arrears and advise you on possible solutions, and will confirm that advice to you in writing.

Consultation solicitor service

After you have completed your Prescribed Financial Statement or Standard Financial Statement and received financial advice under the Abhaile scheme, your financial adviser (PIP, MABS adviser or accountant) may recommend that you also consult a solicitor if your case raises legal issues. For example, your mortgage lender may have written to you, seeking repossession of your home or proposing that you surrender it.

Your financial adviser can apply to MABS for a legal advice voucher on your behalf. You can then choose a solicitor from the panel that has been set up under the Scheme (subject to availability).

The legal advice voucher will entitle you to a face-to-face consultation with a solicitor. The consultation solicitor will assess and explain your legal position, and will advise you on any repossession proceedings and on any legal issues relating to your mortgage arrears. The solicitor will also confirm that legal advice to you in writing. If the lender has already issued repossession proceedings, the consultation solicitor may, in certain circumstances, be able to negotiate on your behalf to settle the proceedings out of court.

It is important to note that the solicitor will need to see any documents that are relevant in your case, particularly your up-to-date financial statement and any written financial advice that you have received under the Scheme.

Duty solicitor service

If you are facing Circuit Court repossession proceedings, you may be able to get some help at Court from the duty solicitor. This is a solicitor from the Abhaile scheme’s solicitor panel who is normally on duty at a Circuit Court on repossession hearing dates. You cannot choose the duty solicitor, as the Legal Aid Board assigns solicitors from the panel to attend on particular dates.

The duty solicitor service is a limited service to provide advice and help to unrepresented borrowers at court. Your consultation solicitor will explain this in more detail.

Normally, you should already have obtained written financial and legal advice under the Scheme, including advice from the consultation solicitor on any repossession proceedings.

If you have not applied in time to get such advice, the duty solicitor may still be able to give you some more limited help, but only if you have already applied to MABS. If your mortgage lender has already issued repossession proceedings against your home, and you have not yet applied for the Scheme, you should contact MABS as soon as possible – see ‘Where to apply’ below.

The duty solicitor may be able to speak for you in Court, to explain what steps you are taking to deal with your mortgage arrears, and may be able to apply for the proceedings to be adjourned if you are trying to put a solution in place. They may also be able to explain to you what is happening in the proceedings.

However, they may be helping several Scheme borrowers in court on that day, so you should attend well in advance of the time shown on the Court papers, and you should ask for MABS when you arrive. MABS advisers also attend at the Circuit Court on repossession hearing dates, to provide information and support. However, they cannot give legal advice or speak for you in Court.

The duty solicitor cannot act as your legal aid solicitor or defend the repossession proceedings on your behalf. This Scheme does not cover legal aid for defending repossession proceedings. If you have a valid legal defence to the repossession and want to apply for legal aid, you should apply for that to the Legal Aid Board, separately from this Scheme.

Personal insolvency court review service

If you have already worked with a PIP and have proposed a Personal Insolvency Arrangement (PIA) to your creditors, but the creditors have refused your proposal, you can ask the Courts to review it.

Under this element of the Aid and Advice Scheme, the Legal Aid Board can provide you with legal representation by a solicitor and barrister in seeking a Court review of your PIA proposal. If the Court agrees that the proposal is overall fair and reasonable, using the criteria set out in section 115A of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012, it can impose the proposal on your creditors.

Your PIP will apply to the Legal Aid Board for legal representation on your behalf. The PIP must certify to the Board that you have reasonable grounds for seeking the court review and that you satisfy the other conditions for review laid down by the Personal Insolvency Acts 2012 to 2015 (pdf).

If the Legal Aid Board is satisfied with the application, it will grant you a Legal Aid Certificate. You and your PIP can then select a solicitor from the Abhaile scheme solicitors’ panel to act on your behalf. (Under the Personal Insolvency Acts, it is your PIP who must apply to Court on your behalf for the review.) The Legal Aid Board will normally also cover the cost of a barrister from the Civil Legal Aid barristers’ panel.