Beneficial Interest we can't afford

gonebellyup

Hi there, could I have some advice please?!

Both hubbie and I BR in Oct 09, we are living in Australia and have different OR offices dealing with each of us.

As requested by my OR we have had a full valuation done on our house (in Oz) and the result is we actually have approx £13,000 equity (which really isn't helpful!). Because it is so high we will have no way of buying the Beneficial Interest back as we just don't have access to that kind of money. I gather that means the OR will have three years to sell the house and claim the BI, is that correct? However it seems pointless living in, paying a mortgage and keeping up maintenance on a house that we know we will lose so are there other options? Can we offer to sell now (although all the costs involved would reduce the BI) and if and when the OR decide to force a sale how do they manage the process in Australia? Is anyone able to explain the possible scenarios for me please or advise on what to do?

Many thanks
GBU

Bethankim

Hi and wlecome,

Im really sorry i have no idea, so just to clarify and help my poor brain have you gone bankrupt in the UK and live in Oz or have you gone bankrupt in OZ and still live there?

gonebellyup

Sorry I did blab on didn't I! We went bankrupt in the UK but live in Oz.

gardenerswife

Hi,
Did you both go bankrupt at the same time? Just wondering why you have two different OR's? My husband and I went bankrupt same time and have same OR.
As for beneficial interest you can make an offer - deducting the cost of selling the house first - or you could express an interest but say no way at moment as you have three years to raise the money (the risk with that is that BI may increase in that time - or go down). Any family members wlling to help?
People have different stories - our BI was £5000 - the OR wouldnt budge on price but fortunately a family member bought it back for us. I think Nervous mother had better experience with their trustee and BI - ie negitiated - might be worth pm her?
Good luck and let us know how you get on

gonebellyup

Hi Gardenerswife

We thing it's odd that we have different OR offices too, we both went bankrupt same time same court! Thank you for your suggestions, we really want to keep our house if possible but I'm panicking that we won't manage it.

debtinfo

Hi gone belly up, before chucking the house in see what you can raise in terms of money and make that offer to the OR, the worst they can say is no, so you have nothing to lose in making a much lower offer. It is going to cost the OR substantial amounts to realize a property in OZ so they may accept an offer

gonebellyup

Thank you debtinfo, I'll give it a go.

nervousmother

Start your offer low, on each offer tell them its all you have been able to borrow, if they refuse.. ooo another relative offered to lend you a bit more. I am still unsure of the value of our house, our mortgage was 140kish, their valuation 169k our valuation 155kish, but we offered first 5k then 6k they accepted the second offer.
It is worth trying to barter, as if you cant afford the 13k and are thinking of giving it up then your not losing anything by putting in a low offer.

i would like to know how your situation works though, if you just gave it up and offered it to the mortgage company as a repo would that debt be included in your BR? maybe that would be a question to put to the OR just to get them worried about the extensive paperwork..

gonebellyup

Thank you nervousmother, you're right, I've got nothing to lose in making an offer. If I'm really brave I'll even ask the vol repo question you suggested - I'd be interested to know the answer to that one too!

cheers