Help with Charging Order

monkeymagic2007

Hopefully someone will be able to give me some advice on this issue!
My partner (soon to be ex-partner) has defaulted on an unsecured bank loan and ignored all of the letters that were sent to her. The first I knew was when I got a letter from her bank's solicitors stating that there was a court hearing to apply for a charging order on our property, which is in both our names. However, my partner has had mental health issues which were ongoing when the initial hearings took place and so this is forming the defence in order to stop the interim charging order becoming fact.
The loans are for £12,000 but when the house was valued several months ago there was only £4,000 - £9,000 equity.
I'm interested to find out if anyone else has any experience of this type of situation. I am probably going to try and stay in the house and take the mortgage on myself so what would be the implications if the order is finalised? Am I correct in thinking that they could only take half of that equity? What are the chances of them trying to repossess if the order goes through? What can I do to try and get out of this situation? What other alternatives are there?
Thanks in advance as I'm going out of my mind with stress and worry!

stapeley

I think you need a solicitors help .

Charliefiggis

Hi monkeymagic.

I have a charging order over my property. I have a joint mortgage and the debt is in my name only.

In my situation it means that they are making sure that they have a way of getting the money back if we default on our arrangment. We owe around £25k and only pay £72 a month. But, if we were to sell our house they would take all the outstanding amount from any equity we had.

I know this is slightly different if you are seperated but I guess the main principles might be the same.

Hope I have explained this ok

monkeymagic2007

Thanks for the swift replies and advice!

Stapeley - My partner has got a solicitor, but I can't afford one and I don't qualify for legal aid. (Although I earn a good wage, I'm up to my eyeballs in debt)

Charliefiggis - The idea of offering an amount to repay each month is a good one, but if my partner went down that route, I am worried that the bank would do what they have done in your case and still put the charging order in place, which is what I am trying to avoid. Her solicitor said that any offers to repay would have to be more than the original instalments, which were £250 p/m which is unaffordable. He also asked if I could pay off the debt!

RAS

Hi

As a starter, speak to NDL http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan#help

Once you have a clear set of questions, you may well be able to get a half hour for about £50 with a solictor.

Charliefiggis

I really don't mean to scare you when I say this but, we were on a debt managment plan through cccs and had always maintained our payments when we had the charging order placed on our property. They are doing this to secure the future repayment rather than force your hand.

You have mentioned though that you have a lot of debt yourself. You need to seriously sit down with income and expenditures and see if its the right thing for you to take over that mortgage on your own and be able to maintain your other debts.

There is no guarentee that if you take on the debt in a charging order that your partner is going to keep up her repayments and if that does happen you may be in a worse off situation that if you try to leave the property now and make a fresh start so to speak.

I know it is easy for me to pass you this advice but ultimatley you will know what is right for you.