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System

stevo1578 wrote: »

According to him he is "sofa surfing". The debt collector quite clearly agreed that he wasn't living at my parents address however today is when they received a letter outlining this debt again with an inventory of their belongings. Would you be saying that they will continue and are allowed to continue "hounding" my parents until we get a forwarding address?

Hi Stevo1578 and thanks for your posts.

It seems that you’ve had some good advice already.

A bailiff cannot take the property of anyone other than the debtor, if this bailiff has taken a levy of goods and you have this levy it should record the bailiffs details and number on the levy.

You should follow up these details if they are there and make a complaint.

If the levy of goods has no such details then this is a debt collection agent, not a bailiff who works for the courts. In this regards this person has no legal powers and should treated as such.

I’d also advise that you attempt to get the name of the original creditor to report this behaviour to the Financial Ombudsmen.
If the bailiff is genuine and does have an Equita number you can complain directly here

http://www.equita.co.uk/Home/ContactUs/ComplaintEnquiryForm/tabid/225/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Please keep us updated.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

Lynn_797

Hi

Wonder if you could advise please. My partner and his ex have a mortgage on a property that she returned to and has been living in for the last 12 months since he moved in with me. She has paid no bills whatsoever (all in her name thankfully) and hasn't contributed to the mortgage or the secured loan on the property. They have had it up for sale for 2 years on and off and haven't received any offers as of yet. In her more sane moments she claims to not want him to be saddled with debts (when) the house is repossessed (£1500 arrears on mortgage and reduced secured loan payment due to go back to normal level this month which he can't afford to pay as well as mortgage and living expenses) as she intends to go bankrupt in order to clear some credit card debts (don't think she appreciates the difficulties she will encounter in the future by doing this). I enquired about me replacing her on the mortgage which isn't possible until their arrears are cleared.

My question is (finally!) if she declares herself bankrupt now I assume that they then expect he pays the full amount as it is his joint responsibility, if we have moved in to the property and payments are made on time in full etc would he still be able to retain the property or will her claiming bankruptcy mean they snatch the house back immediately? Will the OR stake a claim on the property at that point in time or would there be some way to 'buy out' her part at a later date without losing 50% or more of the property to pay off her liability to the OR?

Thanks

StepChange_Pavan

Lynn_797 wrote: »

Hi

Wonder if you could advise please. My partner and his ex have a mortgage on a property that she returned to and has been living in for the last 12 months since he moved in with me. She has paid no bills whatsoever (all in her name thankfully) and hasn't contributed to the mortgage or the secured loan on the property. They have had it up for sale for 2 years on and off and haven't received any offers as of yet. In her more sane moments she claims to not want him to be saddled with debts (when) the house is repossessed (£1500 arrears on mortgage and reduced secured loan payment due to go back to normal level this month which he can't afford to pay as well as mortgage and living expenses) as she intends to go bankrupt in order to clear some credit card debts (don't think she appreciates the difficulties she will encounter in the future by doing this). I enquired about me replacing her on the mortgage which isn't possible until their arrears are cleared.

My question is (finally!) if she declares herself bankrupt now I assume that they then expect he pays the full amount as it is his joint responsibility, if we have moved in to the property and payments are made on time in full etc would he still be able to retain the property or will her claiming bankruptcy mean they snatch the house back immediately? Will the OR stake a claim on the property at that point in time or would there be some way to 'buy out' her part at a later date without losing 50% or more of the property to pay off her liability to the OR?

Thanks

Hi Lynn_797 and thanks for your post.

It depends on whether there’s any equity in the property. If there is, the OR will be interested in her share of it and your partner will be given the opportunity to buy her share (it would only be her share of the equity rather than 50% of the property’s worth). Like you say, he'd need to get the arrears back up to date and maintain the payments if he’d like to keep the house.

If there isn’t any equity it’s likely to be more straight forward but the OR can monitor it to see if the equity increases. Either way I’d recommend that he gets some independent financial advice.

This leaflet is aimed at the person going bankrupt but it might help to explain what can happen: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/pdfs/guidanceleafletspdf/home.pdf

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

Dombo

Hello, im looking for some advice please,
My wife recently recieved a notification for court appearance on 7th sept for outstanding debt of 4.5k on rates (council tax) we had been back and forward to them for the last few years with bills going to the wrong address and payment plans being set up and broken with car accidents and job redundancies etc..
My wife is still off work from the car accident 3 years ago and is recieving Employment and Support allowance, she was on DLA but that has since been withdrawn a year ago.
i am working on a temp basis but have been at the same company now for 14 months.
so what we would like to know is, if she goes to court on 7th and is declared bankrupt will they then try to take our house to reclaim the money? our mortgage is for £135k and the last sale in our street was for £117k so it is in negative equity, also the rates are only in my wifes name and not mine so also can they take interest in any belongings that are jointly owned, car house etc.....
i hope i have provided enough information and hope you can reply.
Thanks
Dominic

StepChange_Pavan

Dombo wrote: »

Hello, im looking for some advice please,
My wife recently recieved a notification for court appearance on 7th sept for outstanding debt of 4.5k on rates (council tax) we had been back and forward to them for the last few years with bills going to the wrong address and payment plans being set up and broken with car accidents and job redundancies etc..
My wife is still off work from the car accident 3 years ago and is recieving Employment and Support allowance, she was on DLA but that has since been withdrawn a year ago.
i am working on a temp basis but have been at the same company now for 14 months.
so what we would like to know is, if she goes to court on 7th and is declared bankrupt will they then try to take our house to reclaim the money? our mortgage is for £135k and the last sale in our street was for £117k so it is in negative equity, also the rates are only in my wifes name and not mine so also can they take interest in any belongings that are jointly owned, car house etc.....
i hope i have provided enough information and hope you can reply.
Thanks
Dominic

Hi Dominic and thanks for your post.

It’s really important that your wife gets some free advice before her court appearance if she hasn’t already.

If there’s no equity in the property they wouldn’t be interested in it as they wouldn’t get any money from the sale. However, even if you’re not named on the bill you are still liable to pay – assuming that you’re registered at the property and she’s not receiving a single person discount.

If you or your wife have other existing debts it’s a good idea to look at your situation as a whole to see what your options are. There are a few different ways the court can look to recover the council tax debt but as it’s a priority it needs to be considered before any other unsecured debts.

If you’d like some more detailed advice you or your wife can call our free helpline on 0800 138 1111 and we can talk through your options.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Pavan

soontobesensible

Hello there,
I was just wondering, if I have a shortfall in my mortgage when I leave my property then would that come into my bankruptcy?
Thank You

System

soontobesensible wrote: »

Hello there,
I was just wondering, if I have a shortfall in my mortgage when I leave my property then would that come into my bankruptcy?
Thank You

Hi and thanks for your post.

A property shortfall would be included in your bankruptcy if you are handing the keys back on the property prior to going bankrupt.

If you’re already bankrupt you would need to speak to the Official Receiver regards this.

If you need some more advice I’d recommend that you speak to our dedicated bankruptcy team. Our helpline number is 0800 138 1111. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm and Saturday 9am until 3.00pm.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

Julesroolz

Hi, I'm hoping you will be able to help as I can't find any information pertaining to my issue anywhere. I recently sold my flat, the sale was completed about a month ago and the equity paid into my bank account by my solicitor. The buyers solicitor have now come back and said that they tried to renew their land registry search and have found that a bankruptcy order of some sort has been registered against myself and the property. I have no knowledge of this and do not understand what it means. Nothing has ever been served on me. Will I have to repay the equity if this turns out to be true? Can it be enforced post-completion of the sale? Can the sale be reversed? I am so stressed I cannot sleep and I'm expecting a baby in 2 weeks! Will they freeze my bank account? Please help!

System

Julesroolz wrote: »

Hi, I'm hoping you will be able to help as I can't find any information pertaining to my issue anywhere. I recently sold my flat, the sale was completed about a month ago and the equity paid into my bank account by my solicitor. The buyers solicitor have now come back and said that they tried to renew their land registry search and have found that a bankruptcy order of some sort has been registered against myself and the property. I have no knowledge of this and do not understand what it means. Nothing has ever been served on me. Will I have to repay the equity if this turns out to be true? Can it be enforced post-completion of the sale? Can the sale be reversed? I am so stressed I cannot sleep and I'm expecting a baby in 2 weeks! Will they freeze my bank account? Please help!

Hi and welcome to the forum.

We’d need to know more details about what exactly the buyers solicitor has found, and we’d also need to know possibly about your personal situation also – are you behind on any debt payments?

It’s normal for solicitors to do these searches and a few years ago bankruptcy was sometimes registered against a property.

You could contact the Land Registry to find out some details, alternatively find out what is registered from the solicitor and get back to us.

If you have any debts that you are behind on and have been issued a statutory demand on it could be worthwhile contacting that creditor. If creditors are currently taking bankruptcy proceedings against you they would usually write to inform you of this at the same time as a statutory demand is issued.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mat

The_mangler

Hi, I hope you can help me.
We are 3 months into a DMP but our income has drastically reduced due to my daughter reaching 18 and leaving further education, therefore my child benefit and child tax credits have been heavily hit. Instead of us paying £551 we are now looking at only managing £112 per month. We rent, my husband is disabled and I am his carer. Would you think it is worth me declaring myself bankrupt and my husband keeping his payments to his debts up through the DMP (they are much lower than mine)?