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If you are looking for more time to pay any mortgage arrears including interest due, you must include Standard Financial Statements and details of payment proposals in your Replying Affidavit. Support services for repossession such as MABS can help you prepare this.
An Affidavit is a sworn statement setting out the facts and relevant documents to be considered by the court as part of your case. In repossession cases an Affidavit is known as a Replying Affidavit.
You should provide the grounds (reasons) on which you do not agree with your mortgage lender's case in this document.
You can only give oral evidence in court if you are given permission by the County Registrar or Circuit Court Judge. You will be sworn in (a formal declaration in the court to tell the truth) by the Court Registrar to give oral evidence.
You should consider contacting support services for repossession or getting legal advice if you are going to complete a Replying Affidavit.
Complete your Replying Affidavit
Your Replying Affidavit must contain the following information (some of which you will find on the Civil Bill that you received):
- The title of your case/ case record number.
- Your name as the Defendant.
- Your occupation and address and confirmation that you are over eighteen years of age.
- You can include documents such as bank statements, payslips and similar financial documents as evidence in your case.
- You should list these documents in separate numbered paragraphs in your Replying Affidavit.
- You should attach these documents to the back of your Replying Affidavit. These attachments are called "exhibits." They should be numbered as "exhibit 1", "exhibit 2" and so on.
Swearing your Replying Affidavit
You must sign your Replying Affidavit and any exhibits in person in front of a solicitor (but not your own solicitor) or a Commissioner for Oaths (a person who is authorised to witness signatures on some legal documents, particularly affidavits) and swear that the information provided is correct before filing it with the court office and serving it on your mortgage lender.
There is a statutory fee payable to the solicitor or Commissioner for Oaths who witnesses your signature on your Replying Affidavit. The current statutory fee for Commissioner for Oaths is €10.00 per signature and €2.00 per exhibit. solicitor's fees may vary.
Submit your Replying Affidavit
Once the Replying Affidavit has been sworn, it can then be submitted to the court office. There is a €15 fee for submitting your Replying Affidavit to the court office.
You can pay the Court fees at your local court office (or in Dublin, at the Stamping Office in the Áras Uí Dhálaigh building in the Four Courts complex). You can pay these fees by card or cash.
You should make three copies of your Replying Affidavit. The original will be stamped and kept on file in the court office, you'll need one copy to be served on the solicitor of your mortgage lender and you will need a copy for your own records.
Serve your Replying Affidavit
You must serve (the sending of a copy of a court document in line with the relevant court rules) your Replying Affidavit at least four days before your return date (your court date mentioned above) on the solicitor of your mortgage lender. You will need to provide proof of service at your Court hearing.
For more information on serving and proof of service, please see our serving and proof of service page.
