trust deed equity demand

poetica

They sent a company of surveyors they work with only once in July 2008 to value the house. This survey came out at £150000. They wrote to me today to say that this same company will be in touch over the next few days to arrange another survey. They also sent me out by post a copy of the official document I signed at the start of the trust deed which refers to house prices increasing and mortgages being paid off. What a complete idiot I am as I now know I should have checked this out more thoroughly

Charco_2

It's unfortunate because i know some other companies agree the figure at the start and so long as you agree then that's it regardless of how the property market goes

All is not lost though. Hopefully they'll agree that your house has gone DOWN in value, that combined with the fact that you'll have paid off some of the equity over the three years should mean that your equity has remained somewhere in the same region - a house valuation of £140k would leave you with £7,500 equity share. (But you wouldn't necessarily have to give them £7,500 - see below)

However if the valuation is higher than that there are other lines of defence - so to speak!

No morgage lender will lend you more than 85% of the value of your property (even without the TD)... so a house worth £150k has realisable equity of £127k without selling! So you might have equity in a house that you cannot realise because your husband wont agree to sell.
You could raise £2k by remortgaging (you couldn't really but on paper you could!) However, your husband would be willing to buy out your share to help bring your TD to a successful end - he can only raise £6k though... coincidence eh?

Wait and see what the valuation comes in at (you can always contest it if it's too high... "£150,000? Are you mad? In this current economic climate? If you offered £135,000 i would take your hand and all!"), but bear in mind that there are ways and means to negotiate after you've agreed a valuation too... it's as plain as the nose on your face that even if you sold the house you wouldn't free up all the equity (because of solicitors fees, estate agents fees, whatever). You'll also need some relocation costs and it would also take a while to sell up so all you need to do is make an offer which is likely to be accepted because it's not worth the hassle otherwise!

poetica

Thanks very much for the advice, once again. I hate to sound all doom and gloom and will be taking on board everything that has been said. As I've indicated previously I feel a bit stupid now I see the pitfalls in all their glory. I will be very interested to see what their team of surveyors has to say when they next visit and will no doubt post then for more advice. I cannot thank you enough for all the solid advice