Joint mortgage nightmare...

AFU

Hi my first post.

I hope someone can offer me some help as I am in a terrible situation.

About 18 months ago, I foolishly entered into a joint (tennants in common) mortgage with a good friend who has four children - none of them mine I should add.
The deposit was raised using a bequest to the chidren and my friend and I took on a £280,000 mortgage between us, allowing the purchase of a five-bedroom house.

After around six months, my friend met a new boyfriend and I left them in peace to get on with their relationship.

After a couple of months, I had a phone call from her saying don't come round to visit for a while as I've started renovating and you won't want to see the house in this state.
A couple more weeks passed and I had to visit for something - the house had been virtually dissassembled internally...walls and ceilings were missing, electric cables hung from everywhere, the kitchen had been completely removed and most of the flooring throughout, all without my say so.

I didn't get angry but asked how she expected to pay to do the renovation as we had no spare money between us.
She said she was going to do it all with friends in the building trade so I left.

Another couple of months went by and I had a phone call to say she was in financial difficulty - it turned out that she had run up debts of £14K and short of losing the house, I had to arrange an unsecured loan (in my name) to pay for the debt and some of the renovations.

We have now spent the little money we had - some of the house is sorted but there is still loads to put right and we have no money left.

I am not sure where to turn from here - one more problem will put us under and I have a nasty feeling that it may not be long before it happens.

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Gorgeous_George

They say that there is one born every minute.

I can only suggest that you speak to a solicitor (or CAB perhaps).

GG

BYALPHAINDIA

AFU - your 'Mate' sounds a walking disaster.

It sounds like she'smade a right mess with the house.

14K in debt that's a bad start.

I don't know what to suggest really.

Best Of Luck.

BYALPHAINDIA

Are you in arrears yet?

280,000 is a huge amount + the interest that may be under 300,000?

If you have ran dry of money, Then you may be able to remortgage, depending on your salaries etc.

Or if possible get some tennants in, But you might not be able to if the work is still ongoing?

If it goes to court, Then the judge will ask you how much you can afford to pay per month - Before deciding what will happen.

It would help to go and meet your lender and seek advice from them if possible, And arrange or amend your repayments if possible.

I wouldn't recommend going into any kind of mortgage loan etc with a close friend for obvious reasons.

Better keeping business & pleasure seperate.

Best Of Luck.;)