Mortgage Shortfall After Discharge

peachyprice

Someone (sorry can't remember who:o) asked the other day if a mortgage shortfall was definitely included in your BR even after discharge. Here's the relevant quote from the Insolvency Service.

Question:
If my house is sold sometime after the bankruptcy order is any shortfall on the mortgage still a debt in my bankruptcy?

Answer: A debt which is secured by a mortgage or a charge on a property is still a provable bankruptcy debt. The mortgage loan company is "a secured creditor" which means they have rights over an asset, the
house, and can require the asset to be sold to pay their debt. These rights are not affected by the bankruptcy. On the making of a bankruptcy order the mortgage loan company could
make a claim in the proceedings but, unless it wished to give up the security, could only claim for any (estimated) shortfall.
If you continue to live in the property it is likely that you will continue to make payments to the mortgage loan company to avoid the property being re-possessed. When the property is eventually sold any
shortfall to the mortgage loan company is still a provable debt in the bankruptcy, even if you have been discharged, as you are released from the debt on discharge.

Your bankruptcy does not affect the obligations of any joint owner who has not been made bankrupt to repay the mortgage loan debt or any shortfall, as they are still liable for the whole of the debt.

After the date of the bankruptcy order the mortgage loan creditor may ask you to sign a "deed of acknowledgment" of the outstanding debt. If you have signed such a deed the mortgage loan creditor can take action against you to recover any shortfall following the sale of the property.

From here:

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/faq/faq.htm#16