Need urgent advice regarding a court appearance

wockawocka

I'll summise this with the basic info I have on this, please bear with me.
This isn't somehting I particularly wanted to get involved in, hence the fairly basic info.

I know that those I'm speaking of need to get a solicitor of some sort, quickly but I'm at a loss as to which type, would one be better than the other, etc.

Here we go.

My girlfriends mother has a mortgage, she asked her daughter about 4 years ago to be a named person on it in order to remortgage.

The value of the amount is £160,000 - Interest only.
The monthly payments have been £1100 , the property has tenants in bringing in £725 per month.

The mortgage payments made due to the mother being out of work on a pension is £800. My partner is making up the shortfall as best she can. We live together and I refuse to support her in this endeavour, it's reckless imo and throwing good money after bad, plus it's not my responsibility.

The mortgage company are MAS (Mortgage Agency Services - Green Emblem) and have took her to court twice to seize the property. On both occassions the judge suspended proceedings against her in order for her to find work. She is trying and is making progress.

She applied 3 months ago for an extension of the suspension in order to sell the property and pay off the mortgage and arrears, now at 175,000.
The house is worth at best 150k.

Since filing for the extension to suspend at the court she was getting phone calls, daily. Even though she was making the payments regularly to the best of her ability.

Now, apparently the company has gone above the court and called in the baliffs, something whihc legally they can do(?). Accordingly they can come at any time and give the occupants of the property 12 minutes to leave.

----

Now as an outsider looking in with minimal knowledge of the subject apart from a little common sense has to think that in doing this the mortgage company are not acting resonably?

Who do I see solicitor wise, regarding this? She would be quite happy to hand the keys over to the complany and wave the whole thing goodbye but is worried that she will be chased for the shortfall and in turn my partner.

The court hearing for the extension of the suspension is the end of next week.

Could anyone advise please?

Thanks!

benjo

You could try shelter, they have alot of info on problems like this.

Regardless of the eventual outcome, those mentioned on the mortgage are equally and severally liable for the full amount of any shortfall, doesnt matter if this happens via a sale or handing the keys back, (I suspect handing the keys back or being repossessed will incur higher charges than by selling themselves).

wockawocka

Thanks for the advice.

I'll have my partner phone them when she gets in tonight.

Radiantsoul

Difficult issue as your girlfriend is going to be liable for the shortfall which looks quite significant. As mentionned if she hands back the keys then ultimately the mortgage company will charge her for their costs in selling the place. The mortgage company seem within their rights to keep calling as it is their money they are trying to recover. Presumably the house is actually being marketed at the current point in time?

wockawocka

It's not marketed at the moment, they wanted to clear it with the courts first.

Can they put a charge on any assets she or her mum might have if the house sales doesn't cover the mortgage and / or the repossess it and sell it cheap?

She also got a call from them at 7pm tonight and left a message asking if she wanted to discuss the terms of the mortgage? Odd.

dunstonh

Can they put a charge on any assets she or her mum might have if the house sales doesn't cover the mortgage and / or the repossess it and sell it cheap?

They can come after her for any assets she owns. If you live together then that includes coming to your address and potentially seizing jointly owned assets. She is fully liable for the debt and they will aim to get the money from either party. There is no 50/50 here. So, they could potentially come after only her for the money and leave the mother alone or vice versa. Whichever has the most chance of success in getting their money back basically.

wockawocka

Thanks very much for the advice.

So they can only go after one person not both?

To be honest I know very little about the whole thing as my partner didn't want me to get involved but I knew something was up and asked her.

As far as possessions go I know my partner doesn't have anything, I know her mum lives somewhere else but whether that's also mortgaged, rented or owned outright I have no idea.

She doesn't know I'm asking on here. Think it's a pride thing....which in my opinion shouldn't come into it. If you need help, get help!

Radiantsoul

wockawocka wrote: »

It's not marketed at the moment, they wanted to clear it with the courts first.

Can they put a charge on any assets she or her mum might have if the house sales doesn't cover the mortgage and / or the repossess it and sell it cheap?

She also got a call from them at 7pm tonight and left a message asking if she wanted to discuss the terms of the mortgage? Odd.

They need to put it on the market now imho, this does not need to be cleared with the court. Any sale will need to be agreed by the mortgage company in the first instance and not the court.

Radiantsoul

The mortgage company will go after whoever is easiest to get money out of. If the mother has a property with equity then they will go down that route first. They can also do a full and final settlement deal with one party and leave the other having to pay the full remaining amount. Most likely if they can't get any repayment proposals they will move towards bankruptcy to both.

wockawocka

On speaking with my partner she says the call she received this evening was proposing something along the lines of MAS buying the property from them and renting it back to them?

Radiantsoul

I don't understand that. I suppose it is possible, but for them they are just increasing their exposure to falling prices and the risk of property ownership. Plus there are tenants in the place...