charge on property

ole_2

hi, i have posted once before and got some helpfully advise, i was just woundering if anybody can answer this question.
i have received a letter from one of my creditors, regarding an OLD HFC account, saying my account has been passed to their litigation dept for court proceedings, i have been paying a reduced premium for a few years, they are saying that once a ccj has been issued they will apply to the court for a charge to be placed on our property, what will this entail, any help would be appreseated

Gal

This taken from a post in the housing / mortgage / renting section:

Charging Order If your opponent owns property you can apply to the court to "Register a Charge" at the "Land Registry" against your opponent's property to show that you have an interest in the sale proceeds of the property. This forewarns any person intending to buy your opponent's property.

If there are any other Charges registered before you on the Land Register then those Charges will be paid first before your Charge. For example, if there is a mortgage registered against your opponent's property then that mortgage will be repaid first from the proceeds of sale.

Once you have registered a Charge against your opponent's property then you can apply to the court to Order that the property is sold so that your Charge can be paid as soon as possible.

CLAPTON

a charge on the propertry means that when you sell it you have to repay them their money

how much is the debt ?
how much is th house worth
how much is the mortgage for

ole_2

thanks for your replys the debt is for £8,353, our house is worth about £140,000, and the mortgage is outstanding about £120,000,
can they make us sell our house.

mystic_trev

This really is getting quite a problem and (I believe) legislation is making it easier for charging orders to be granted.

You can forget "unsecured debt" now ir's become ALL SECURED !!!!

Gal

Edited - Don't want to be giving out wrong information

barnaby-bear

ole wrote:

thanks for your replys the debt is for £8,353, our house is worth about £140,000, and the mortgage is outstanding about £120,000,
can they make us sell our house.

http://www.compactlaw.co.uk/free_legal_information/small_claims/smcf10.html#Charging

You can even do it yourself for a small debt in the smalls claims - for about £55 you can start the process to force the sale to repay a £100 debt, I suggested using it for EagerLearner to scare her evil deposit-thieving landlady...

ole_2

thanks for all your replys.

CLAPTON

firstly they may not even apply for a CCj..often this is only a threat...are you paying the agreed amounts?

once (well if ) they obtain a charging order, they can apply for the sale of your house and it would be up to the judge to decide...the amount is relative small so the judge may not allow the order but there is no certainty here.

in any event make sure you go to court if you are summoned and similarly if they apply for a charging order.

mystic_trev

ole wrote:

thanks for your replys the debt is for £8,353, our house is worth about £140,000, and the mortgage is outstanding about £120,000,
can they make us sell our house.

I'm afraid to say - YES They can also make you Bankrupt. Sorry for the bad news.

"More drastic is that they could opt for a Charging Order which prevents you from selling assets such as property, land or investments without paying what is owed to the creditor. If you don't sell, the creditor may apply to the court to force a sale to meet the debt. An even worse alternative is that they could apply to make you bankrupt if the sums you owe are large enough to make the expense worthwhile"

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/comment/2006/c060829d.htm?ref=foolwatch

reformed_man

The Motley Fool article quoted above did ,however, end on a slightly positive note. It said

" While all of the above sounds rather terrifying, remember that the law is there to protect you as well as your creditors. If you are able to make a realistic offer of regular payments at the time of the County Court Judgement hearing, it's likely the judge will simply make an order for you to pay that amount. And as long as you keep up with those payments, your creditor can't take enforcement action."