Is bankruptcy an option for me?

DTD_2

Hi all,

Pretty desperate times for my family at the moment, basically bought a holiday home in Cyprus, which was supposed to be sold before for profit, but as this was over the last 5 years, the economy collapse means we have a large mortgage abroad (As well as one here) which we are struggling to pay and to top it off my wife has become extremely ill.

Sale of the home would not cover the mortgage and we would have lost a lot of money

Is bankruptcy something i can do to clear this debt? Not the UK mortgage just the Abroad one - If we could remove this we would be in a good position as it looks likely my wife will have to finish work.

If we did this how would it effect our future?

Sorry if i have got things confused, just very desperate at the moment.

silvercar

Is there equity in the uk home? If so you may lose it as part of your bankruptcy.

Work in small steps. If the Cyprus home is the immediate problem then Stop paying that mortgage and possibly hand the keys back. Eventually it will be repossessed and they may come after you for the shortfall. You can then deal with that at the time.

DTD_2

Thanks Silver car, really appreciate your immediate reply, thanks.

yes we have equity in the UK Home.

If i hand the keys back which seems the only option at the moment, the shortfall may be manageable, but can they come after me with debt collectors or anything like that? I am trying my best to do this without the Wife knowing, as with her medical condition she has to avoid any stress at all costs as it could be fatal

And the last thing i want is her opening the door debt collectors demanding money. (Or am i over dramatizing it??) - Like i said need help and advice on every aspect here.

Thanks again

NeverAgain_2

Who is the lender on the Cyprus property?

IF

Hi DTD and Welcome to the Bankruptcy (BR) Board. Unfortunately you would be contacted at some stage by the lender/DCA so first step is to make a list of all your creditors, debts and assets. Secondly and most important is contact one of the following debt charities. Please try these they don't charge and are impartial. They will go through all your options with you and if they suggest bankruptcy then come back to this board and we will help you all we can. Also if your not ‘clicking’ with one of the Debt charities do try another. We advise you to try at least two for your own piece of mind. Your BR could be refused if you have not sought advice.

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Mands

DTD wrote: »

Hi all,

Pretty desperate times for my family at the moment, basically bought a holiday home in Cyprus, which was supposed to be sold before for profit, but as this was over the last 5 years, the economy collapse means we have a large mortgage abroad (As well as one here) which we are struggling to pay and to top it off my wife has become extremely ill.

Sale of the home would not cover the mortgage and we would have lost a lot of money

Is bankruptcy something i can do to clear this debt? Not the UK mortgage just the Abroad one - If we could remove this we would be in a good position as it looks likely my wife will have to finish work.

If we did this how would it effect our future?

Sorry if i have got things confused, just very desperate at the moment.

To summarise your two threads: you bought off plan, paying a 40% deposit, have a CHF mortgage with a Cypriot bank, have reduced income, have been renting the villa out and are in negative equity. Does that cover the key facts?

Did you get permission from the CTO to rent out the villa? Are you paying the local taxes on the rental income? Are you declaring the income and expenses to HRMC in the UK? They probably seem like minor things in comparison to the mortgage but, by law, you should have done/be doing all of them.

You say that the bank holds the deeds. Is that actually the case? Has the Land Registry issued your deeds? Within 6 years would be quite unusual. If you'd got the deeds you'd have had to pay the Transfer Tax which'd have been a 5 figure sum: do you recall that happening?

If you go bankrupt in Cyprus then they could come after your UK assets, the house in which you have 60% equity.

Your best bet is to work with the developer and see if they'll take the villa back and write off part of the debt. If you were to end up not owning the villa and having a debt to the developer for the negative equity but protected your UK home then that would be a good outcome.

I'm sorry, you are in an unenviable position.
Mands

DTD_2

Hi all, thanks for the feedback.

The Lender is Alpha Bank, and the mortage has been going for just under 2 years! - I don't have the deeds as we were told the bank has to hold on to them for the first 3 years.

The development has been up and running for 2 years!

Renting has not been a huge success to date thus why we can't cover the costs.

It's a catch 22, if it would rent out enough for us to keep it going then hopefully the markets could return in a 5-10 years then we could regain at least the investment.

The other problem we have is the miss-selling of the mortgage! As it was the UK company (Who have stopped trading since) and the Bank who told what we shoudl do andn advised us it's the best option for you money to pay into Euros account and then into the CHF mortgage - Which what i have found out later is the worst thing we should have been told!

Apparently there is a consortium of people getting together to challenge the bank over this as there have been hundreds that have been given the same advice.

Trollfever

Apparently there is a consortium of people getting together to challenge the bank over this as there have been hundreds that have been given the same advice.

Don't throw good money after bad!
The only people to benefit will be lawyers who will insist on their fees up front.

The folks that you need to take action against will be long gone and any money that they had will have disappeared.

DTD_2

Thanks trollfever - it was just an email i recieved form one of the other owners! I have not heard anything back form them, but if i do i will be wary.

Mands

DTD wrote: »

The development has been up and running for 2 years!

Which is it?
Mands

DTD_2

Pyla Gardens - larnaca!