stopped paying the mortgage - now what?

mrsrwallace

waltsalt, my point is that a working person who faces losing their home in this country is not eligible for any help with keeping them in their homes at all yet that same working person can either sell the house or have the house repossessed and claim housing benefit to let them live in someone else's house as a tenant.

as for the state "paying toward something which in the future will most likely be an asset" surely those landlords who are sitting with buy to let mortgages and having tenants in the properties claiming HB to pay the rent is the exact same thing as the state paying for something which will be an asset for the landlord in the future?

so basically the state is paying millions every year to landlords who can sit back and get their mortgages paid for, so I think that a temporary measure to help those working people facing repossession or until they get back on their feet is what i am looking for. I have stated on here before that I do not expect to be "bailed out" as it is my mess etc and nobody's problem but mine but even those who have mortgages and then lose their job and claim Income Support or JSA can only claim mortgage assistance after a period of 13 weeks of unemployment and only receive assistance for 2 years. So my point waltsalt is the unfairness and inequality that the working person faces. We try to get somewhere in life and provide a home for our family and when the proverbial s**t hits the fan there is no help available but yet those folk who choose not to contribute or work can be given a home and there is no time limit to the help they get. they are not told right you can claim HB for 2 years and after that you're on your own, get a job and pay your own rent.

in my world nothing in life is free and i have always worked and paid my way but the one time the welfare state is meant to help out is when you really need it and this time is the first time in my life i need it yet there is nothing there for me even though i have consistently worked and paid tax, no help at all.

pepper33

Good answer Mrs Wallace

x12yhp

Ditto to that Mrs Wallace.

Ignoring the 'asset' issue this is more a point of putting a working family and kids out on the street. The system should not allow this. People who are quite comfortable can claim child tax credits etc which they do not even need. Those who don't care to work or have pushed way way beyond their means get supported by any number of benefits and, as stated, can often enjoy going on holidays/drinking etc with the excess. Then you have the middle who can support themselves on their own but as soon as anything goes wrong, they have too much behind them to get any real support so it appears that the system ignores them.

The benefits system should be a support system. It should ensure that people are given a minimum level to keep afloat (irrelevant of their supposed wealth). At the moment we give way too much to some and encourage them never to actually do anything and clearly we have way too little for those who actually contribute!

waltsalt

x12yhp wrote: »

Ditto to that Mrs Wallace.

Ignoring the 'asset' issue this is more a point of putting a working family and kids out on the street. The system should not allow this. People who are quite comfortable can claim child tax credits etc which they do not even need. Those who don't care to work or have pushed way way beyond their means get supported by any number of benefits and, as stated, can often enjoy going on holidays/drinking etc with the excess. Then you have the middle who can support themselves on their own but as soon as anything goes wrong, they have too much behind them to get any real support so it appears that the system ignores them.

The benefits system should be a support system. It should ensure that people are given a minimum level to keep afloat (irrelevant of their supposed wealth). At the moment we give way too much to some and encourage them never to actually do anything and clearly we have way too little for those who actually contribute!

I am not for a second suggesting anybody should be made homeless. I am just saying there is a difference between being provided with somewhere to live and having your property paid off for you. If the state was prepared to pay for mortgages then who would be bothered to work seeing as that is biggest outgoing from a monthly wage?

But I am not going to debate any further. This is a sensitive issue and you have my sympathies Mrs Wallace. Please don't misinterpret what I was saying.

Golden_Anemone

waltsalt wrote: »

I am just saying there is a difference between being provided with somewhere to live and having your property paid off for you.

Even in the limited circumstances where people can get help with their mortgages while on benefits it is for mortgage interest only so nobody can or ever could get their property paid off by the state. At the end of the mortgage period they still have to repay the capital which means an endowment :eek: or finding the capital from state benefits.

waltsalt wrote: »

If the state was prepared to pay for mortgages then who would be bothered to work seeing as that is biggest outgoing from a monthly wage?

Actually because interest rates are so low mortgages are typically much cheaper than rent in the current market so it would make so much more sense for the government to provide immediate help with mortgage interest to people in Mrs Wallace's situation than to have to start paying housing benefit after their house is lost to them.

The government position isn't just unfair to Mrs Wallace, it's unfair to the taxpayer who ultimately funds the benefit schemes.

However government feels it has to keep the Daily Mail readers of Britain happy and as they tend to believe the first part of your post then we are where we are and Mrs W is where she is, God love her.

Glad you found Housing Rights helpful Mrs W, I volunteered for them briefly as part of my degree course many years ago and was so impressed.

x12yhp

Golden_Anemone wrote: »

However government feels it has to keep the Daily Mail readers of Britain happy and as they tend to believe the first part of your post then we are where we are and Mrs W is where she is, God love her.

Off topic, I know, but I feel this is unfair. Whilst said group would be hostile towards someone indeed getting their mortgage paid off by the state, they would be downright militant to those who take the full benefits afforded to the lower end of the spectrum! The Daily Mail is a shocking rag but it is pretty much hostile towards everything - so the fact that it is hostile towards any one thing means little really! In practice, the former government is responsible for pandering to the sun/mirror/etc readers... something which has not yet been addressed properly by this government and thus which remains a particular bee in the bonnet of the DM.

mrsrwallace

well i've had a few viewers at this stage and 2 offers which i am thinking about. one offer is lower than the asking price and was made by a first time buyer, the second is bit closer to the asking price BUT the potential buyer has asked us to consider renting the property from her......

i had assumed it would be investors or first time buyers or even a person downsizing who would maybe buy our house - i'd never even contemplated someone interested in buying it to rent it back to us. Mmmmm....don't know what to do now. Had sort of mentally prepared for moving on and making a new start somewhere else and i don't know how i'd feel about renting this house which will never be my house now knowing i had to sell it because it was either that or repossession.

Wondering if any of you have done this or know of anybody who has? Is it really as simple as selling the house and just staying in it as a tenant? I know the practicalities of not having to go through a house move etc would be great especially with the new school term soon etc and all the upheaval of having to contact GPs dentists etc etc to update addresses and all that. It would also mean nobody need know i had to sell as nobody would know of the arrangement only us and landlady..? So...the only thing is that no matter what we do we'll still have the shortfall to pay so what's your ideas/opinions?

mrsrwallace

oh and another thing....potential buyer/landlady has said that i could cut out the middle man (i.e estate agent) and save the fees on that by removing my property from the market and doing a private deal. I have no experience of that so a) is it legal to do that? b) how quick nowadays does a sale complete bearing in mind that this is a cash buyer with no mortgage approval holding her up? c) i also have an IVA that is half way completed, will this be taken into account when selling? Quite a few things to consider so any advice is greatly appreciated Oh and sorry! but after house is sold and shortfall is there to pay would i need to amend IVA or can I arrange a repayment plan with the mortgage lender?

steveymp

I would be wary of not including the EA as they will find out your house sold without them and they can take you to court to get a fee, they will claim that their advertising online and signage attracted the buyer in the first place it could get messy.

As for sale completion, mine took 2 months and it was fast apparently, getting 2 solicitors to interact with each other in a short space of time is near impossible. Then they charge you a fortune for doing it:(

Your solicitor should be able to advise you on your IVA issues.

Good Luck.

pepper33

Beware of this Mrs Wallace, a friend of mine in Portadown, had to sell because the divorce courts decided that her husband was awarded 45% of the house, she hadn't seen him in years, and brought up her two children on her own. So anyway, her next door neighbour bought the house and the rental was affordable, but then he began to put up the rent, and she couldn't afford it, so she had to declare herself homeless, and got a nice house for herself, and the profit from her share of the house. It you don't do it through the legal way, they can raise the rent whenever they feel like it. Just a warning.....