Is my sis going to homeless? How does she sort this out

swingaloo

I need help on behalf of my sister please.
She is divorced with 2 school age children. Her ex husband now lives in South Africa with his new family. As a part of thier divorce settlement she stays in the family home and he pays the mortgage till youngest child is 18 then the house is sold and they each get a percentage.

Now the problem- Her ex was a gaurantaur for a rental agreement taken out by his friend. The friend is being evicted from his property and the company keep writing to my sisters ex (at the address he no longer lives at) saying he needs to pay the rent his friend has not paid. Sis has been writing back to the company telling them that the guarantaur no longer lives in the UK (she did inform them when he left) but they say that does not matter as he still has property in the UK. They have written several times saying this person owes money to them and on each occasion she has sent the letter back saying 'not at this address'. Her ex will not acknowledge any part of this, as far as he is concerned its nothing to do with him any more.

Now sis is frightened as the rental company are sending threatening letters to her home. How does she deal with this please? Any advice welcome. Thanks

fannyanna

Just return all of the letters unopened with "no longer at this address".

sassyblue

swingaloo wrote: »

but they say that does not matter as he still has property in the UK.

as fannyanna says, return the letters unopened with 'no longer at this address'

They will tell your sister anything to try and get some money back, but the truth is it would cost them alot of time and money to claim it on the property (if they can). I'm not saying they never will but it is nothing to do with your sister in the meantime...

She could of course give them the address he is at now, abroad or not, it's him they should be chasing.

whitewing

I'd also suggest that your sister goes along to the CAB or her solicitor with her divorce paperwork and runs through the situation with them.

Fire_Fox

The letting agency cannot take the ex to court without a correct residential address, which they don't have. Without a CCJ they cannot lodge any charges against the house: this should not affect your sister's credit rating either. I assume the ex is on the deeds but is not on any of the bills, not registered to vote at the address, does the mortgage company know he is out of the country?

Your sister should continue to return all the letters to sender, maybe with another recorded delivery letter (keep the receipt and a copy) reminding the agency that it has not been his residential address for some years. It's unlikely they will file in court but keep an eye out for paperwork just in case - if any comes write to the court enclosing copies of, say, council tax bill and decree absolute.

RAS

This settlement sounds like a not very good idea as she is really vulnerable to him stopping paying.

If he is a guarantor then they can claim the unpaid rent - by law they can write to the last known address and unless challenged will get a CCJ against him. They can then go for a charging order.

Is the house in his name, a joint tenancy or tenants in common?

RAS

Fire_Fox wrote: »

The letting agency cannot take the ex to court without a correct residential address, which they don't have.

Unless the notice is challenged they will still get the CCJ by default if they serve on the last known address. OK, it can be overturned but is the ex going to bother?

macman

Without knowing how the home is owned, impossible to give proper advice.
If your sister's name is not down as a guarantor along with her ex, then that side of things is no concern of hers whatsoever. Tell the DCO to desist once and return any further letters unopened.
Was the property transferred into her sole name or is it in joint names? If joint, as joint tenants or tenants in kind? If the former, it cannot be sold without her agreement.