Bulgaria Nightmare!

Brock_and_Roll

well hang on just a second....you could lose a lot more than the £17k!!!

You ex may have stopped paying her half but is the mortgage in joint names? Because if it is, then it is very much her problem as well.

If you stop paying and default on your euro mortgage, the lender will sell the appartment (for some silly figure) and then come after you for the balance (could well be more than £37k after costs etc). If your ex is on the mortgage as well, you are both JOINTLY & SEVERALLY LIABLE.

Therefore you must not take this decision lightly if you (or your ex) have any assets to protect i.e. do you have properties in the UK with equity in them? What would be the implications for you of being made bankrupt.

Do not think for one minute that the fact that the mortgage is in Euros and the property in Bulgaria, means that the lender will not pursue you. You may not hear anything for a while but they will in time probably sell a package of such debts on to others for Xp in the pound who will seek to enforce them. Within the EU it is relatively straightforward to enforce debts cross-border (I ought to know as I work for a bank who does it al lthe time)

maninthestreet

OP, if you tried to sell the property in its current, incomplete state, what would you get for it? If it was completed, what would it sell for? How much of the original mortgage has been paid off, how much remains? What is the current interest rate on the mortgage? Who is the lender - some Bulgarian bank, presumably?? Is it considered normal in Bulgaria to be able to get a mortgage on a property that has not been physically completed?

sammyh82

The bank agreed to lend 60% I put down 30% & the bank are holding 10% until its complete.
I am female, my ex is male & he has signed a letter saying he is giving his share of the property to me, the mortgage & the title deeds are still in our joint names, the bank won't change the mortgage until the arrears have been paid off, my solicitor has not yet changed the title deeds as I was unsure what to do.
My house here in the UK is in my son's name & the mortgage is fully paid. I ma planning on moving to Australia next year.
The lender is a Bulgarian bank yes. I've been paying the mortgage for 2 years but because my ex stopped paying a year ago the balance is back to what it started at at approx 42000 euros. I would need to get it valued to find out its current market value but when I brought the apartment it was for sale for approx 62000 euros, i think i do not have the exact figure to hand, this includes the 5000 furniture package I have installed. I would just like to sell it for at least the cost of the outstanding mortgage so that the bank aren't chasing me for money anymore.

sukey13

I think you should stick with it until complete and then either rent out or sell.

If you cannot remortgage then I think you should look at getting a loan (preferably unsecured) to pay off the current mortgage and then you should be paying an awful lot less per month. I have a mortgage on a property which is over 3 times the amount of yours which I am paying £365 pcm for !!!

Don't give up.

x C

Wh05apk

Sammy, sorry to say you are in a mess, realistically the property is probably in negative equity from a lenders or forced sale point of view, so the chance of remortgaging there with missed payments will be nil, are you able to raise the funds here to clear the mortgage, as I think that would be your only hope.

Your ex is trying to be clever with you I suspect, he is aware of the negative equity so possibly thinks by signing over to you, he will get away, given the minimal equity/negative equity, I would suggest keeping him on there until you can sort it out.

Sorry I can't be of more help, but I think if you can't raise the funds here you should probably try and off load it now while you still can.

Pincher

Spain : Paradise Lost

This is the mystery I have never understood.

I basically expect the standard outcome of handing over a cheque to a salesman to buy an off plan property in a foreign country to be a disaster in say 95% of cases.

Is there ANYBODY who has EVER enjoyed the no-research off-plan buying process, and would recommend it? Please exclude the Marriott serviced apartment type purchase, which is a time share, not property ownership.

So, assuming that NOBODY has ever come out of this unscathed, why would anyone ever do it?

With double glazing, at least a large number of people ended up with decent windows, but buying in Bulgaria?

FraudBuster

Pincher wrote: »

Spain : Paradise Lost

This is the mystery I have never understood.

I basically expect the standard outcome of handing over a cheque to a salesman to buy an off plan property in a foreign country to be a disaster in say 95% of cases.

Is there ANYBODY who has EVER enjoyed the no-research off-plan buying process, and would recommend it? Please exclude the Marriott serviced apartment type purchase, which is a time share, not property ownership.

So, assuming that NOBODY has ever come out of this unscathed, why would anyone ever do it?

With double glazing, at least a large number of people ended up with decent windows, but buying in Bulgaria?

About three years ago I was in a queue at Tesco's and the folks in front of me were boasting to each other about the enormous profits that they had made on their Bulgarian property investments.

I bet that they never actually realised those profits.

maninthestreet

sukey13 wrote: »

I think you should stick with it until complete and then either rent out or sell.

If you cannot remortgage then I think you should look at getting a loan (preferably unsecured) to pay off the current mortgage and then you should be paying an awful lot less per month. I have a mortgage on a property which is over 3 times the amount of yours which I am paying £365 pcm for !!!

Don't give up.

x C

I think it will be very difficult to get an unsecured loan for what is an amount over £50,000, and the monthly payment will probably be far higher than the current mortgage payment.

sammyh82

I am getting really tired of the negative comments saying 'why did you buy in Bulgaria?' because its not productive & its certainly NOT helping so unless you have some advise for me I'd appreciate it if you all stopped telling me I made an error buying in Bulgaria becuase my response to that is 'NO SH*T SHERLOCK!' I joined this website & this forum to try to get some advice, I decided to buy the apartment in 2006 when I was 24 years old & I had a family member who was willing to help me invest in my future, I'm not a property tycoon & I've never pretended to be I was a nieve wannabe & yes I've learnt the hard way, what I'm trying to figure out now is the best way to get out of this situ without damaging mine & my son's future anymore!
Thank you to the people that have given constructive advice, i don't think i can get a loan for £37k to pay off the mortgage, i don't particularly even want to, i already have a £7 loan that I'm trying to pay off & I can't secure a loan against my house because its not in my name, so a loan is out of the question, re mortgageing is out of the question, selling is a posibility, say the value of the property has decreased slightly, hopefully with only having 60% mortgage I can sell it at a reduced price to someone to pay off the mortgage?? & then just accept I've lost the 30% deposit i put down 3 years ago.

sammyh82

The loan amount is £37k