Girlfriends parents losing house. Need Help!

puddy

ian_jamieson wrote: »

No, they don't have credit cards. I don't have one either, don't like to spend money that's not mine.

Dog is alive and well, but they're still lots every month in medication. He's an old dog, and as much as I love them, when it's time to go, it's time to go.

I think 3 years ago, they weren't doing too bad. Not many people are paying builders to do lots of work right now, as most are keeping hold of their cash. I think they've buried their head in the sand a little thinking it would pick up. The wife worked with the dad. To be fair, if it was me I would be looking for a job.

well to be honest, none of that makes sense.

they put the house on the market 3 years ago but at the time they werent doing too bad? so why the sale of a half finished house?

the wife worked with the dad but work dried up so she wasnt working, yes i agree, she should have gone out and got the first job she found

they dont have credit cards? but they only owe 5k to stop the reposession? they had money for the dog but not to save their house being reposessed but didnt put one of those debts on a credit card?

i dont agree with credit cards either, but if it was to stave off reposession i'd do what i could.

be careful of what you're being told here, either they are being very economical with the truth or they are down right stupid

whitewing

My experience with family members and repossession is that they will

a. firmly believe it is someone else's fault (when in fact they may have had some bad luck but they have refused to acknowledge their own change of circumstance)
b. ignore it and hope it will go away (when they could be finding a solution)
c. take money off any sucker willing to give it to them (and they will genuinely be grateful, but because they won't take responsibility for their own circumstances, you won't get the money back)
d. convince themselves that other relevant financial info does not need to be mentioned (so there will be other debts, court cases, tax owed, etc etc that they won't tell you about).

Two people on full-time minimum wages jobs could in theory take a £100K mortgage last time I looked at affordability calculators. That's without any top up benefits.

Do be careful, not least because if they feel beholden to you when they get back on their feet again, it may be easier to freeze you out of their lives rather than have you around as a reminder of their inability to deal with their situation. (You will know them in person so it may not be like that).

ian_jamieson

puddy wrote: »

well to be honest, none of that makes sense.

they put the house on the market 3 years ago but at the time they werent doing too bad? so why the sale of a half finished house?

the wife worked with the dad but work dried up so she wasnt working, yes i agree, she should have gone out and got the first job she found

they dont have credit cards? but they only owe 5k to stop the reposession? they had money for the dog but not to save their house being reposessed but didnt put one of those debts on a credit card?

i dont agree with credit cards either, but if it was to stave off reposession i'd do what i could.

be careful of what you're being told here, either they are being very economical with the truth or they are down right stupid

Ok, maybe I just need to be clearer. They put the house on the market, but after he broke his back progress on finishing the granny flat was slow. He was behind with his payments, but was making them.

Credit card wise, he's always telling me he can't get credit after falling into difficulty after breaking his back. So I don't think he could get one. He's tried for finance to at least get the thing finished, but with no joy.

Yes, they used that's months payment to save the dog. Again, even at that, they were only 3 days late with the payment (He worked his !!! of that week).

You have to remember, if you broke your back tomorrow and couldn't pay your bills, it wouldn't matter to a bank or a court.
Default, and your credit goes. The banks have been pretty brutal recently, and there's not much decency when it comes to things like this.

GDB2222

ian_jamieson wrote: »

As it stands right now, they've rejected the offer from the finance company. Too much.

They've decided just to go to auction if it comes to it. His solicitor says that with the interest (They have viewers all the time) it should fetch over £180.

Not sure of the reality of this, but we'll see.

I forgot to mention as well, the house comes with loads of land and a courtyard which is worth loads in itself.

That doesn't sound realistic, at all. They have the house on the market right now at £180k, you said, and there are no takers. If people can't get a mortgage to buy it uncompleted now, why would they suddenly have the funds when it's in an auction?

The people buying at auction will be a completely different bunch from the people looking round now. They'll be professionals with cash in the bank or pre-arranged finance. They'll want to buy cheaply enough to do it up and sell it on at a good profit. I just don't see how that's going to work for them at £180k if it can't be sold in the normal way at £180k?

Repossession may still be the best bet for them, but they shouldn't bank on getting much back at the end of the day.

Do you have a link to the house anywhere? The link you posted earlier does not work.

GDB2222

ian_jamieson wrote: »

Ok, maybe I just need to be clearer. They put the house on the market, but after he broke his back progress on finishing the granny flat was slow. He was behind with his payments, but was making them.

Credit card wise, he's always telling me he can't get credit after falling into difficulty after breaking his back. So I don't think he could get one. He's tried for finance to at least get the thing finished, but with no joy.

Yes, they used that's months payment to save the dog. Again, even at that, they were only 3 days late with the payment (He worked his !!! of that week).

You have to remember, if you broke your back tomorrow and couldn't pay your bills, it wouldn't matter to a bank or a court.
Default, and your credit goes. The banks have been pretty brutal recently, and there's not much decency when it comes to things like this.

It's amazing he can do any work at all with a broken back, really.

greenman2

ian_jamieson wrote: »

Yeah, it's been on the market since 2008. Lots of interest, but nobody can get a mortgage on an uncomplete property. Not since the banks tightened their belt anyway.

They have another viewer tomorrow. Everyone who sees it, loves it. Strange...

If it 'only' needs a £15k to finish it off and £5k to pay off arrears, I find it strange that a bank wouldn't lend for that reason alone, as long as the property was priced accordingly for their security.
I can relate to the point about not being able to get a mortgage due to stricter lending criteria, but think that the unfinished worked wouldn't be the decisive factor as to whether a bank offered a mortgage or not...more the personal history etc of the person/people applying for the mortgage.
I bought a property a few years ago, which was 'unfinished', and in need of renovation. The bank accepted the estimated finishing/renovation costs, and agreed an amount to lend where they would still have security.

I know time is not on your side, but as somebody else said, due to serious health problems, maybe you can negogiate and buy a bit of breathing space with the lenders/finance company.
Have you thought about offering the property for a really low 'offers over' price, set a closing date when you have enough notes of interest (which you would surely get as everybody wants a bargain!) and let the buyers who can get a mortgage (or are cash buyers) fight amongst themselves in the Scottish blind auction system ( common practice IME ? They still wouldn't be obliged to accept but might be an option.

On a personal note (and not knowing your personal relationships), I would avoid getting involved at all costs as there are just too many things that can go wrong, and like a few other people have said, people change when their situation changes...

Good luck.

puddy

ian_jamieson wrote: »

Ok, maybe I just need to be clearer. They put the house on the market, but after he broke his back progress on finishing the granny flat was slow. He was behind with his payments, but was making them.

Credit card wise, he's always telling me he can't get credit after falling into difficulty after breaking his back. So I don't think he could get one. He's tried for finance to at least get the thing finished, but with no joy.

Yes, they used that's months payment to save the dog. Again, even at that, they were only 3 days late with the payment (He worked his !!! of that week).

You have to remember, if you broke your back tomorrow and couldn't pay your bills, it wouldn't matter to a bank or a court.
Default, and your credit goes. The banks have been pretty brutal recently, and there's not much decency when it comes to things like this.

I tell you something, if i broke my back tomorrow, the house would be on the market the following day at a reasonable price. i might extend the mortgage (at the mo its 12 years, i could put it to 25), or i could go interest only.

until i was able to do someting to get rid of the house that i cant now pay for with my back, i would use the unused credit cards that i have in my house both with 6k credit on them (for just such an emergency) and use that to pay bills and the mortgage. i would take action immediately.

its just like the poster above said, genuine bad luck will happen to us all, but dealing with it badly, blaming others or being in denial will lead to this sort of thing

i find it hard to believe that someone who has been in business over many years hasnt had the odd credit card in reserve, even if he didnt spend on it. therefore the fact that he says he couldnt get credit due to his back raises alarm bells.

im not having a go at you OP, im just worried that when you get involved in someone elses family its easy to support them and take everything at face value. my worry for you would be your relationship with your g/f, she may also have picked up this inability to deal with things properly or she may be impacted in the future in some way by their financial difficulty, which will inevitably impact on you if you start to live together/get married

always take information with a pinch of salt, even from your loved ones (and posters on a forum!)

puddy

greenman2 wrote: »

If it 'only' needs a £15k to finish it off and £5k to pay off arrears, I find it strange that a bank wouldn't lend for that reason alone, as long as the property was priced accordingly for their security.
I can relate to the point about not being able to get a mortgage due to stricter lending criteria, but think that the unfinished worked wouldn't be the decisive factor as to whether a bank offered a mortgage or not...more the personal history etc of the person/people applying for the mortgage.
I bought a property a few years ago, which was 'unfinished', and in need of renovation. The bank accepted the estimated finishing/renovation costs, and agreed an amount to lend where they would still have security.

I know time is not on your side, but as somebody else said, due to serious health problems, maybe you can negogiate and buy a bit of breathing space with the lenders/finance company.
Have you thought about offering the property for a really low 'offers over' price, set a closing date when you have enough notes of interest (which you would surely get as everybody wants a bargain!) and let the buyers who can get a mortgage (or are cash buyers) fight amongst themselves in the Scottish blind auction system ( common practice IME ? They still wouldn't be obliged to accept but might be an option.

On a personal note (and not knowing your personal relationships), I would avoid getting involved at all costs as there are just too many things that can go wrong, and like a few other people have said, people change when their situation changes...

Good luck.

i thought properties were only unmortgagable if there were some heavy structural probs/planning probs/freehold probs with the main house of the property or there were no utilities/sink/toilet in the main house of the property

im sure someone will explain but having an unfinished granny flat doesnt normally mean its unmortgagable, unless i suppose its a basement flat and its structurally problematic/hasnt been signed off, but even then, what if you just sold it as a house and no mention of granny flat, just an unfinished basement renovation?

im imagining a granny flat as separate to the house in this case, as he uses the term annex, maybe its attached?

greenman2

ian_jamieson wrote: »

As it stands right now, they've rejected the offer from the finance company. Too much.

They've decided just to go to auction if it comes to it. His solicitor says that with the interest (They have viewers all the time) it should fetch over £180.

Not sure of the reality of this, but we'll see.

I forgot to mention as well, the house comes with loads of land and a courtyard which is worth loads in itself.

But that land and courtyard are surely all calculated in the overall valuation of the property, or have I missed something?

puddy

also, it still doesnt explain why you would go to the effort of starting a granny flat and then put it up for sale half finished

he broke his back AFTER the house went up for sale, meaning it was put on the market still incomplete

strange