Can a lodger buy a house being repossesed?

borisbosseye

Hi,

Basically my question regards the possibility of me purchasing a house I am lodging in as the landlord will be going bankrupt.

The bankruptcy is due to my landlord having gone through a divorce and being "awarded" the house in negative equity of approx 30K and half of the matrimonial debts amounting to 17K, she also has credit card bills of 10K. Her income of 1K a month and my rent is nowhere near enough for her to keep going

I have a property of my own that is rented out and could use this to pay the required deposit to purchase the house I currently lodge in, ( I relocated areas hence not buying something here straight away) so I am in a position to very quickly get the funds in place. My question is how do I go about purchasing the property, do I contact the mortgage provider or wait for it to go onto the market (if it ever does) and take my chances? Finally am I even allowed to do this as a lodger rather than a tenant in the property?

G_M

Your status as lodger is irrelevant. You are simply a prospective buyer.

If the owner is going bankrupt the property will pass to the Official Receiver. However the lender may seek repossession from the OF to ofset the mortgage. Contact the OR and lender and see if they are willing to consider a cash offer. They might but most likely they will go to market (or auction) as they have a duty to minimise the losses involved (by maximising the price obtained).

Ankatden

The answer is yes and you may find Lender willing to sell on to you quickly rather then go through process of evicting you and everything that entails.

scottishblondie

Ankatden wrote: »

The answer is yes and you may find Lender willing to sell on to you quickly rather then go through process of evicting you and everything that entails.

There isn't really much process to go thru to evict a lodger - you just tell them to leave.

OP you are as others say just a prospective buyer - move quickly and make yourself an attractive one, and house may be sold to you rather than going on to the open market.

Ankatden

scottishblondie wrote: »

There isn't really much process to go thru to evict a lodger - you just tell them to leave.

OP you are as others say just a prospective buyer - move quickly and make yourself an attractive one, and house may be sold to you rather than going on to the open market.

Missed the "lodger" bit.

borisbosseye

Thanks everyone, much appreciated!
The fact I'm a lodger rather than a tenant worried me as I thought I may be kicked out, if I were to place and offer as soon as the house owner declared themselves bankrupt would we both have to move out before I purchased or just her?

G_M

Once the OR or lender takes over the property they will almost certainly seek to repossess via the courts - ie kick out all occupants. As a lodger you have minimal right s so will be kicked out.

If you make an offer after the bankruptcy (ie after OR takes over) but before the court orders re-possession, and IF they accept your offer, then they MAY allow you to stay - but I strongly doubt this will happen.

They will want to get vacant possession and to offer the property to the market in that state.