Crazy neighbours and negative equity

Ulfar

If there are no utilities then the flat is uninhabitable, selling would only be possible to a cash buyer.

No cash buyer is going to buy your flat as an investment given the information you have supplied.

However have you consulted with the freeholder/management company of the building. These others have breached the leasehold as it will contain clauses about not cutting off services to other flats and may well have prohibited the changes to layout they have made.

It doesn't usually in this sort of case go all the way to the freeholder/management company reclaiming the property but if your neighbours are that bad it may well have too. I would be lighting a fire under the freeholder/management company as they are responsible for enforcing this.

alicemary

Ulfar wrote: »

If there are no utilities then the flat is uninhabitable, selling would only be possible to a cash buyer.

No cash buyer is going to buy your flat as an investment given the information you have supplied.

However have you consulted with the freeholder/management company of the building. These others have breached the leasehold as it will contain clauses about not cutting off services to other flats and may well have prohibited the changes to layout they have made.

It doesn't usually in this sort of case go all the way to the freeholder/management company reclaiming the property but if your neighbours are that bad it may well have too. I would be lighting a fire under the freeholder/management company as they are responsible for enforcing this.

We know of two potential buyers who would be prepared to take on the property and just wait it out. Eventually the court's surveyor's report will be put in action and the services restored, I just don't know how long it's going to take. I don't know what they would be prepared to pay either, and you may be right, it could be impossible to sell, so I'll have to just keep going more and more mad
The previous management company is already involved as a party in the court case, it's kind of complicated, but to summarize, the court appointed a new management company in the meantime. The crazy neighbours are suing the original management, and we as owners (4 flats) are suing the crazy neighbours. There's more to the story than the services being cut off, but that issue is the main reason we cannot live there or sell.

ellersb

Having lived with nutty neighbours myself, I'd get rid asap. If you've got people who would buy it, then sell it. The stress will lift immediately and even if you end up owing however much, it will be so much easier to manage without the constant nerves. Good luck with it all

G_M

Ignoring the neighbour dispute which you've clearly been progressing and getting advice on, the answer to your question is that in normal circumstances you will have to redeem the mortgage (pay it off in full) when you sell.

Your buyer (and their mortgage lender) will refuse to purchase with the existing Charge (mortage) still in place and this will be a condition of their contract to buy.

In rare cases,your mortgage lenders might
* agree to wipe off the balance of the debt (shortfall between sale price and mortgage), but htis is VERY rare and would only happen if a) they knew you had no way to make up the difference
b) had no choice but to sell (ie had already got heavy mortgage arrears and
c) they did not want to reposess and sell themselves for some reason

* agree to move the outstanding balance of th mortgage to another secured loan (mortagage on another property) or (less likely) an unsecured (more expensive) loan

either way, you will need to sound out your lender and see what if anything they are prepared to do, or else you will need to find the missing £50K or so from savings/other sources.

patman99

Is your flat above or below the other?. This would give us some idea of how easy it would be to restore the services.
BTW, I am assuming the flats have a leasehold in place which should state the leaseholder's responsibilities. It is quite possible their is a clause about not annoying the neighbours, or altering the internal layout. In which case, they are in breach of the lease and you should instruct your solicitor to find-out who their mortgage providers are and involve them.

dawyldthing

i'm sure i've heard on here before where people just can't afford the mortgage and give the keys back to the mortgage company to deal with, they would then sell it on your behalf and the difference between the sold price and what you owe would then have to be paid by you.

Alternatively could it go to auction?

maninthestreet

Given the on-going dispute with the neighbours, surely this makes the flat un-sellable amd/or un-mortgageable? Anybody contemplating a cash purchase of such a property with an on-going dispute that has reached the courts (and that they would need to pursue once owners) must be completely mad.