Sell up, rent out or give up?

goldbyron

I would initially get valuations and try to sell it - if the situation is that untenable a few grand loss is better than just walking away. You could just accept that you won't make any money on the flat - and if you had rented for 5 years you wouldn't have anyway. Last resort I would consider an auction to try and sell as someone may be willing to work on it.

Fire_Fox

gazebo wrote: »

I wish I could bring myself to withold payments, as it is I am giving these folks a chunk of my wages every single week (paid weekly, set up a standing order weekly to keep payments ticking over and assist me with budgeting)

I don't have a magical £150 that I can give to them right this very second, and even if I did, the letter telling me it's now overdue and trying to blackmail or guilt trip me into giving them money right now isn't the way to do it.

I do fully understand however that as a responsible homeowner, if there is a repair required that is of a serious nature, I am fully liable to pay so I will be trying to figure out where I can find £150

Don't withhold until you have set up the residents and tenants association and you can pay the money into your group's account. I only stopped paying whilst awaiting a response to a recorded delivery letter - it took them FIVE months and two reminders which I now know is a breach of the legislation. Equally don't just blindly pay, sending a letter querying what repairs are needed to the windows and asking for copies of service contracts buys you some time and starts a paper trail.

BitterAndTwisted

Yep, and writing by recorded delivery will buy you time to find a lodger and get a deposit from them. That should be an awful lot more than £150, so you'll have money in a deposit account earning you interest on the balance as well. Result!

gazebo

going to bump this to see if anyone else has an opinion

I'm still awaiting anything back regarding valuations - but having fully discussed this with my parents, I know really that the best thing I can do is try to sell up and move on with my life.

in terms of dealing with the factor and the bill I received - I'm going to find out what exactly it is my money will be paying for before parting with it (gives me time to find the cash for one thing) - and will do so via letter/email rather than phone.

Thank you so far

gazebo

bit of an update regarding this one.

Following my previous post, I've had a valuer in, received my quarterly factor bill and had minutes from a residents/factors meeting that was held on the 16th Feb.

The good points to all of these things first I guess: -

I now have details of what the caretaker should be doing (job description)

From minutes of meeting it is clear that I am not alone in being frustrated by works carried out by factor/contractors

I may not be in negative equity after all

I am not as mental as I thought and my own thoughts on the true value of this place are pretty much on the money


Now the bad points: -

Property in theory should be worth between 60/65K at present, however, due to the outstanding works and general decline of state of building, it's actually 50/55k

If I sell up now I will more than likely have to sell for less than original purchase price (that's the risk you take though - so I'm not that fussed)

I can't make a firm decision right now as there may be a significant shift in my finances in the not too distant future (my new partner may be about to start uni again)

So aye, all in I am still no clearer on what I want or need to do.

If I stay here I am going to keep paying my mortgage on same terms as it is now thus reducing balance further in hope of at least breaking even if I come to sell (i.e. can pay fees and repay mortgage in full). The gamble here, as with everyone else out there right now is that prices may decline further still - but hey, given that it's not a huge amount I'm talking about, I can deal with that.

I am also now in two minds as to whether I should inform my ex of the actual value of the property at the moment. They have in their mind a magical amount they expect to see in the future. My dad made a valid point in that he feels that whilst they aren't on the mortgage, thus it's my responsibility to pay, they should be contributing to the factors fees as if they don't get paid it will reduce their returns (I probably haven't explained that very well).

So I now am armed with the harsh truth and it's bouncing around in my mind making me feel like I'm going slightly mad.

I honestly do not know now what to do for the best. I am however aware that whilst things are bad, they could be worse (next door property was bought for 70K in Dec 2007 and whilst identical, it's technically 1 bed and apparently they are worth between 40/45k at present).

Oh and as a small aside, to show how good the factors are, the first I heard of this meeting held in the building while I was probably sitting in my livingroom just yards away, was when I get the minutes - I think I was deliberately not informed because in the past I have been quite, erm, vocal in expressing my faith in their services. Life is too short to get really wound up by this though