Charging Order help required

Stuckneedhelp

Hi,

I need some urgent Help / Advice!

I have just returned home from an Interim Charging Order hearing where the judge has granted a Full Charging Order to the claimants.

A brief background:

I bought 2 investment properties in 2007. Within months of purchase the area had become a 'no-go zone'. Due to a local gang all the houses and flats within a 3 road radius were boarded up. I had my places set fire to on numerous occasions and there was constant vandalism, so I quickly got mine boarded up too. I maintained mortgage payments on both properties until 2010, when the monthly costs plus service charges etc. became too much so I stopped paying.

During this time and after I continued to try to negotiate a deal with the lenders, but each deal required the sale of the properties, which were un-sellable. Incidentally, the debt on each property has been sold on 4 times from the original lenders, so I am now dealing with 2 companies who purchased the debts nearly 3 years ago.

To cut a long story short both houses were repossessed and subsequently sold for £20k each, and both lenders have been chasing me for the balance. I owe about £100k to each one.

One of the lenders has agreed a settlement figure which is both feasible and acceptable to me.

The other lender has obtained a CCJ and proceeded to obtain a charging order on the only other property I own. It used to be my main residence and is owned jointly with my wife. We vacated this property a couple of years ago and rented it out to help pay the bills. There is maybe £50k equity in this property.

I made an application to have the original CCJ set aside last year, on the grounds that the claimants had been sending all documentation to the wrong address. However, the hearing was moved from a court in London to Liverpool, and I requested that it be moved back to London. I did not hear anything about my application after that, though today I was told that a hearing went ahead in Liverpool in January and the motion to set aside the judgement was dismissed. At the same time, the court supposedly granted the claimants an interim charging order on my other property, though the judge today said the paperwork from Liverpool is so awful it is hard to determine when exactly the ICO was granted.

I received in April a letter from the lenders solicitor 'enclosing service upon you a sealed copy of the interim charging Order' with a returnable date to a court in Liverpool.

I immediately wrote back explaining that I intended to contest the ICO and to move the hearing to my local court, which they duly did and the hearing was today.

So, I went to the ICO hearing today, where the judge told me:

- He was granting a Full Charging order. I thought that after the ICO hearing there would be another 28 days and then an FCO hearing, but the judge said this was not the case?

- He said that the claimant can force me to sell the property. I thought that they could only have a restriction on the property and not force me to sell?

- That it would not be worth my while going back to my request to have the original CCJ set aside, despite the fact that I was never informed about the hearing and that he thought the paperwork from the county court in Liverpool was in a dreadful state (lots of hand written notes and missing information / documents contradicting themselves).

- That the interest costs on my debt will amount £763 per year.

- That despite the fact that there is minimal equity in the property, and despite the fact that it may prejudice the other lender who I owe a similar amount to, that he could see no reason to deny granting the FCO.

Is the above all correct? Where do I go from here? I have been making offers to the lender but all have been refused. What are they likely to do now? The charging order doesn't really help them get their money back any time soon as there is not enough equity.

I don't know what to do. I have no other assets that they can come after, but I do have a decent job.

Any / all thoughts appreciated.

thanks

wannabee_in_credit

I have no clue at all about this, but bumping it back to the top for you.

fatbelly

It sounds like the debt and ccj are in your name only, and the property with the charging order is jointly owned. So you need to be aware of this thread and you might even want to post on there:

Charging Order? The Myth

The Land Registry will record this as a restriction, not a full charge. The wording of the restriction will be important - if it's a standard wording it may not give the creditor the security that they think it will. However, the credit industry seem to be becoming aware of this. I viewed a Credit Today webinar a couple of weeks back on enforcing ccjs - tips and tricks - and they recommend trying to get non-standard wording to give better protection. Interesting, because when you read the thread you will find that most conveyancing solicitors side with the creditor anyway.

Could you challenge the award of a CO? Or the underlying ccj? I don't think so at this stage. But take advice on this, and I'd be delighted to be proved wrong.

Can they force a sale? They can make an application, which would be considered by a judge and you will hope not the same one. This would almost certainly get turned down if you or your wife were living there, but you're not. However, if this is £100k debt and a sale would not realise this, then I can't see any sense in them making an application.

My understanding is that interest is not secured by a charging order but £700 per year on 100k debt sounds very low. Are we a factor of ten out somewhere?

Stuckneedhelp

Thanks Fatbelly, I will read through the other thread now.

How would I find out the wording of the restriction?

How could the creditor force through a sale when they only have restriction registered?

And yes, sorry, interest is £7000 per year! Can I get this frozen?!

fatbelly

Stuckneedhelp wrote: »

Thanks Fatbelly, I will read through the other thread now.

How would I find out the wording of the restriction?

How could the creditor force through a sale when they only have restriction registered?

And yes, sorry, interest is £7000 per year! Can I get this frozen?!

I see eggbox has commented on the other thread.

The Land Registry will let you know about the restriction. I believe the standard wording is 'Form K' - Eggbox is the expert on that.

They can make an application for an order for sale based on your interest in the property but, as I've commented before, I think that's unlikely here.

Interest frozen? No, not if on the judgement.

Stuckneedhelp

Thanks Fatbelly.