Former property developer secures court approval for €4m debt write-off

High Court reporters

A former property developer has had €4 million debt written off as part of a High Court-sanctioned insolvency deal.

The personal insolvency arrangement enables William Tynan (57) to remain in his €400,000 home in Dromina, Charleville, Co Cork, and return to solvency.

Mr Tynan was active in the property development sector during the 2000s and acquired land and investment properties at “significant exposure levels”, according to legal filings before the court. He got into financial difficulties following the downturn in the property sector and loan facilities fell into arrears.

The court heard the father-of-four now works in the construction industry.

His home mortgage, for which some €247,000 is owed to Pepper Finance, will be restructured and fully repaid over 16 years, while unsecured creditors will receive just 0.2 per cent (€5,880) of the €4.1 million due to them, the documents state.

For a period, the deal applies a 4.75 per cent interest rate on the Pepper mortgage debt before it reintroduces a tracker rate.

Barrister Eoin Martin told the court on Monday that Pepper Finance, whose debt is secured over Mr Tynan’s home, consented to the proposed debt arrangement at a creditors’ meeting held last July.

The Revenue Commissioners, which is owed €25,000, also agreed to the proposal. Some €6,500 of Revenue’s debt will be repaid in monthly instalments over six years while the rest will be mostly written off, the deal outlines.

Mr Tynan’s unsecured creditors largely voted against the deal at the creditors’ meeting but did not raise objections to its approval in the High Court on Monday.

The unsecured creditors are Everyday Finance DAC, which was owed €2.9 million; Cabot Financial Ireland, which had €1.1 million due to it; and First Citizen Finance, which had a claim for €7,493.

Mr Tynan will also voluntarily surrender a 0.08-acre land strip valued at €2,000 for the benefit of Everyday Finance, Mr Martin told the court. The deal provides for Mr Tynan’s personal insolvency practitioner to be paid €11,000 in fees.

The court was told the insolvency plan gives creditors a better return than if Mr Tynan was adjudicated bankrupt.

Mr Justice Alexander Owens approved the plan after being satisfied it met the statutory criteria.