Charging orders?

Professor_Pat_Pending

Got my Payplan phone 'appointment' on Wed and hope to start a DMP on April 1st. 45k debt and can afford £700 a month, have a joint mortgage with partner (she has nothing to do with my DMP) and we have about £40k equity in the house.
The thing I am really worried about are these charging orders :eek: , can a creditor take one out on my property even though though we own it jointly and my partner has nothing to do with my debt.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

fatbelly

One step at a time, Pat. Don't worry about things that may never happen.

Most debts never see court action.

Most court judgements are not secured by charging orders, and cannot be, as long as you pay the instalments the court orders.

Factsheet | Charging orders in the county court

Tixy

No

If they try to get a charging order (or say that they are going to) what they can actually get is a restriction. This is for when the debt is in an indivdual name but the house is in joint names. I don't know loads about 'restrictions' but i do know they don't have as much rights as charging orders, nor are they automatically paid if you decide to sell the house.

This sort of action is quite a bit down the line though, first they would have to go down the route of getting a CCJ and then you would need not to keep to the CCJ re payments ordered by court so its not that likely in reality.

The lenders may try to mislead you on the charging order v restriction issue, in fact its possible that some of the people you may deal with won't even know the difference. But just be clear that they are aware that your property is jointly owned should it ever get that far down the line.

Professor_Pat_Pending

:T Thanks guys, I think I may be suffering from pre DMP nerves. I am told everything settles down a bit when it actually starts.

InDeepDebt

45K and £700 a month - that's almost 1.5%. I can't see any of you creditors getting too bothered with that level of payment.

Best of luck with the DMP.

Jim

true27

Tixy wrote: »

No

If they try to get a charging order (or say that they are going to) what they can actually get is a restriction. This is for when the debt is in an indivdual name but the house is in joint names. I don't know loads about 'restrictions' but i do know they don't have as much rights as charging orders, nor are they automatically paid if you decide to sell the house.

This sort of action is quite a bit down the line though, first they would have to go down the route of getting a CCJ and then you would need not to keep to the CCJ re payments ordered by court so its not that likely in reality.

The lenders may try to mislead you on the charging order v restriction issue, in fact its possible that some of the people you may deal with won't even know the difference. But just be clear that they are aware that your property is jointly owned should it ever get that far down the line.

The basic difference between a full Charging Order and a Restriction is that a full Charging Order acts like a mortgage (eg must be paid from the proceeds of any sale/permission must be sought from the creditor prior to remortgage etc). A Restriction (which as Tixy quite rightly says, is all they can achieve on a jointly owned property) will say, basically, that no sale/remortgage/transfer etc can be effected on the property without giving written notification of the transfer to the creditor. So basically, if you sell, get your solicitor to write to them, giving notice of the sale, and the restriction will be removed.

But don't worry - I have a restriction registered on my house courtesy of ex-hubby, for a debt that he ran up before I met him (about 12 years before they obtained the charging order) so I'd say you're a little way off. HTH

Verbatim

Charging Order? The myth - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

you might find this thread useful

Goodtimesahead

A Restriction (which as Tixy quite rightly says, is all they can achieve on a jointly owned property) will say, basically, that no sale/remortgage/transfer etc can be effected on the property without giving written notification of the transfer to the creditor. So basically, if you sell, get your solicitor to write to them, giving notice of the sale, and the restriction will be removed.

Where is this stated in law, I keep getting conflicting advice, any links from law sites etc about this particular area of law? Thanks

Tixy

Goodtimes - it might be worth getting advice from national debtline on this. They are usually pretty clued up on legal issues relating to debts and should be able to clarify for you.