Charging Order? The myth

PatJay

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice regarding charging orders please. I am being chased by a couple of DCAs for credit card debts and though they haven't done so yet, there are the usual threats to go to court. These debts are in my name and my wife and I jointly own the property. The mortgage is very close to ending, within a few months, and in fact over the years my wife has paid more into the mortgage along with quite a large lump sum a few months ago, with the intention of finishing the mortgage this year, which we'll do.
My question is, can we now change the ownership of the house entirely into my wife's name. Obviously then if the worst comes to the worst I can't have a CO (Restriction) set against my interest in the property?

DAKOTA45

PatJay wrote: »

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice regarding charging orders please. I am being chased by a couple of DCAs for credit card debts and though they haven't done so yet, there are the usual threats to go to court. These debts are in my name and my wife and I jointly own the property. The mortgage is very close to ending, within a few months, and in fact over the years my wife has paid more into the mortgage along with quite a large lump sum a few months ago, with the intention of finishing the mortgage this year, which we'll do.
My question is, can we now change the ownership of the house entirely into my wife's name. Obviously then if the worst comes to the worst I can't have a CO (Restriction) set against my interest in the property?

Yep… I would definitely do that straightaway… I've had a (modified) CO put on our jointly owned house due to huge legal costs… NOW the creditor is threatening to get an Order for Sale… and I have been told they can quite easily take our home from us, even though my husband has done nothing wrong…

My husband is not the debtor and has paid every single penny towards the mortgage for all of his life…it is criminal that he could end up with nothing if they sell the house cheaply...
Protect your assets before the vultures swoop, and transfer it into your wife's name…before it's too late!!

Have you checked to see if they have already put a charge on your home? Sometimes you only find out about them when you go to sell the property

fermi

Does not really deal with restrictions vs etc, but useful, especially on orders for sale.

http://debtcamel.co.uk/charging-order-sale/

PatJay

DAKOTA45 wrote: »

Yep… I would definitely do that straightaway… I've had a (modified) CO put on our jointly owned house due to huge legal costs… NOW the creditor is threatening to get an Order for Sale… and I have been told they can quite easily take our home from us, even though my husband has done nothing wrong…

My husband is not the debtor and has paid every single penny towards the mortgage for all of his life…it is criminal that he could end up with nothing if they sell the house cheaply...
Protect your assets before the vultures swoop, and transfer it into your wife's name…before it's too late!!

Have you checked to see if they have already put a charge on your home? Sometimes you only find out about them when you go to sell the property

Thanks Dakota, I haven't checked but I doubt it very much because they haven't even taken me to court yet, let alone won and received a CCJ so I don't see how it would be possible.

DAKOTA45

Thanks Dakota, I haven't checked but I doubt it very much because they haven't even taken me to court yet, let alone won and received a CCJ so I don't see how it would be possible.

I don't want to worry you, and I am sure in your case it will be fine, but they don't always 'take' you to court before putting a charge on…They often do it surreptitiously by way of a 'Without Notice' application…
Although you should at least receive a notice from land registry when they do this… but it's worth checking...

DAKOTA45

fermi wrote: »

Does not really deal with restrictions vs etc, but useful, especially on orders for sale.

http://debtcamel.co.uk/charging-order-sale/

Many thanks for this info…

How often does this happen?

When I wrote above that there are “three legal stages a creditor has to go through” you might have thought that creditors will aim to rush through the stages to get to stage three as fast as possible. This isn’t correct. Creditors don’t want to go to court, let alone go through three different applications – it costs them time, money and at any stage their court application may be refused, so it’s risky. Creditors would much prefer to find an acceptable repayment solution and not bother with any of this court action!


My creditor doesn't seem to be the least put off by making the applications and to date, it hasn't cost them a penny in taking me to court and obtaining the CO… they have just added the costs to my debt… when I tried to object by making an application to set aside, they adding another £1,500! (Their costs in defending my application…)
It has got to the stage where I am afraid to breathe lest they slap more 'expenses' on top… and the debt is increasing by 8% every day...:mad::(

Mind you… I think I should point out that my creditor, who is also my next door neighbour, is not interested in the money, just in making me homeless as he has a personal grudge… so it's a bit different from a normal creditor who just want's to see some cash..

eggbox

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

Apologies for keeping on, but does it actually make a difference if they are not pursuing us? It is purely us that are trying to deal with this.

No it won't make any difference. If the creditor is claiming you haven't paid off the debt, and you have no proof you have, then what you have registered on your deeds won't be removed. And apologies if you have already explained this bit , but what is actually registered on your deeds (what is the actual wording?)

Land_Registry

eggbox wrote: »

LRR

How would a Charging Orders be registered twenty years ago (before the 2003 changes) Were there differences to the Form K Restriction introduced for Joint Owners/Sole Debtor?

Apologies eggbox as it seems I missed a few posts to the thread recently although DAKOTA45 has provided some additional guidance

Twenty years ago (or pre-2003) the CO would have been registered as a caution on the title in most cases. They would not have been registered as a restriction but could still be overreached in the exact same way as the form K can be now.

Cautions stopped with the 2003 changes in so far as new ones cannot be created and the form K restriction was introduced to cover the scenario re joint owners/sole debtor. That was not covered by the caution option previously which simply referred to the CO's existence. The issues associated with joint owner/sole debtor still existed though so in many ways you could say the form K has helped, when read and understood correctly.

Land_Registry

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

Apologies for keeping on, but does it actually make a difference if they are not pursuing us? It is purely us that are trying to deal with this.

Apologies also to Enterprise1701C as well for a slow response

Whether it makes a difference probably depends on your circumstances as it seems likely that it will only make a difference as and when you wish to sell or remortgage for example as in all likelihood you would need to secure the charge's removal.

eggbox

PatJay wrote: »

Thanks Dakota, I haven't checked but I doubt it very much because they haven't even taken me to court yet, let alone won and received a CCJ so I don't see how it would be possible.

It's not, and if there was anything registered you have immediate grounds for set aside as you haven't been notified. But do take Dakota's advice in making any changes you want NOW before it's too late. One thing you can do, if you haven't done so, is to send a s.77/78 CCA request off to the DCA's concerned (it costs a £1).

This will not only slow them down, as they can't proceed to Court until they have complied with the request to produce the documents required (which often takes months as they have to get them from the original creditor); but this request often shows the DCA cannot enforce any agreement through Court, anyway, as they are often;

i) unenforceable as not having the correct prescribed terms required (certainly true for agreements pre April 2007) and

ii) irretrievable as many banks were slipshod in their archiving of these documents (no agreement means no Court case)