Just about to complete - solicitor says 'bankruptcy search reveals.....'

mjgreen

Hi all,

We have just exchanged on our first house and are due to complete next Tuesday.

Our solicitor emailed today and said

"I have done a bankruptcy search which reveals a number of entries against your names.Will send a copy for clarification."

Argh! What does this mean?? The office is closed now so cannot find out until tomorrow.

The email was very informal, so I dont think we should get too worried. I also think it is very strange that everything should get this far (e.g. Mortgage accepted, contracts exchanged, deposit paid etc) without anyone querying this.

In case you were wondering, neither my wife or I have ever been made bankrupt and have never had any problems getting credit cards etc.

So anyone know what this might be about? Is it just a general search on our names? (I have a very common name).

Thanks in advance!

Hippychick

They do a search against you before you complete to check your not bankrupt. It is likely that someone else with the same name or surname has been made br and so it has revealed an entry.

The solicitor will need you to certify that the entries don't relate to you.

clutton_2

it is possible to get a CCJ and not to know it - but i am sure you cannot be made bankrupt without anyone telling you

mjgreen

Hippychick wrote: »

They do a search against you before you complete to check your not bankrupt. It is likely that someone else with the same name or surname has been made br and so it has revealed an entry.

The solicitor will need you to certify that the entries don't relate to you.

thanks for the info -

is this likely to hold things up? we are desperate to move in!

How will the solicitor prove its not us? I mean I am sure we were asked by the mortgage company if we had ever been bankrupt during the application process....what stops us just lying if we had been bankrupt in the past? WHat sort of proof do they require to prove it is not us?

Comyface

I agree with Hippychick.

A similar thing happened to my friend. They bought their house, got married and went to remortgage a couple of years later. Turned out that someone who shared her new married name had been made bankrupt.

All she had to do was declare in writing that the search didn't relate to her and it was fine, don't think she even needed proof.

Hippychick

You can also verify it's not you on the insolvency service website.

It will have the date of birth of whoever was bankrupt so you can prove it's not you.

https://www.insolvency.gov.uk/eiir

mjgreen

Hippychick wrote: »

You can also verify it's not you on the insolvency service website.

It will have the date of birth of whoever was bankrupt so you can prove it's not you.

thats very useful thankyou...looks like there is someone with my first, middle and surname who went bankrupt. They are only a year older than me as well!

Ok cool, so it should be just a case of signing something to confirm its not me

b3ckford

What about iva's?

m1ntie

clutton wrote: »

it is possible to get a CCJ and not to know it - but i am sure you cannot be made bankrupt without anyone telling you

Some years ago, I was selling my house near Bristol and we had exchanged and were due to complete on the last day of business before Christmas.

Three days before the completion date I got a call from my purchaser, telling me he was unable to complete because his solicitor had just carried out searches and found out he had been made bankrupt several years previously.

He claimed he was completely unaware before this.

spannerzone

ummm this thread goes back to 2009

PasturesNew

spannerzone wrote: »

ummm this thread goes back to 2009

And it's a good job it was resurrected as we've not had such an interesting thread since that date!