Lender charged me for Home Information Pack

Raikks

Hi, hope this is the right place.

Last year we decided to give our house up for voluntary repossession, it wasn't a decision taken lightly and we still wish we'd had another way out.

We gave it up officially on the 23rd October and it was on the market for £132,000. We received a letter a week ago telling us it had been sold for £90,000.

Today we have received another letter stating we owe then £3,068.67 and they have listed a number of charges.

Our outstanding mortgage was £82,142.87 and then they added £10,925.80 for a variety of things. Now, I can't get through to anyone today and wondered if anyone could help with a couple of things we've been charged for.

The biggest thing is £6,623.72 for a Home Information Pack. Now, we are under the impression these are no longer needed, does anyone know any different? I have put so many things into Google and everything says they were scrapped. Can they do this?

They also charged us £60 for a EPC, we already had a valid EPC as we had it up for sale already. They kept it with the estate agent we were with so surely we can't be charged twice.

When the locksmith changed the locks he broke the glass in the back door, we've been charged £198 for security. Now if I had my locks changed and the locksmith broke something I'd be telling them to pay it as it was their mess up.

They also charged us £417.60 for clean/clear/removal and house tidy - the house was empty and we can prove this with estate agent photo's and we left it very clean as we were still trying to sell, no carpets at all, all wood floors...seems a lot for a small 3 bed house (3 beds, bathroom, living room, kitchen). And also £60 for a new stop tap, they've not even explained which one or what was wrong with it.

This is the first we've heard since we gave the house up, we've had no letters from them at all so we were so shocked when we received this bill.

Does anyone have any experience of this or know anything about the charges? The biggest one is obviously that £6k for a HIP!

Thanks to anyone who can help.

agrinnall

£6K for a HIP? Was it stamped out on gold plate and encrusted with diamonds? I'm not sure exactly what's in a HIP but if it's anything like a Scottish Home Report then £600 would be a more reasonable price (mine was £480, which included the EPC).

Raikks

Yep £6k. We were told they were no longer needed from 15th Jan under section 183 of the localism act and that we had saved ourselves about £400 so where they have £6k from is beyond us - should we not have been charged we wouldn't have owed them - feels like a bit of a con to be honest.

WestonDave

Do you know if it finally sold at auction? Reason I ask is that a property that goes to auction (which would fit with the price differential between asking price and achieved) has to go with all the documentation prepared up front - title deeds, searches etc etc. Still think that the price is huge compared to what I know of auction packs I've seen prepared at work but unfortunately you lost control of the process when you handed it back. If it is an auction pack it may be worth finding out who prepared it, and whether they are part of a profession which has a complaints system that you can use given that you are bearing the cost of it.

Raikks

No, it didn't go for auction it was sold through an estate agent normally. We know because we know the people who bought it (the same people who were turned down for a mortgage a year ago when we had it up sadly!)

I_have_spoken

TBH, sounds like they knew the house sale cleared the mortgage debt with £££s left over and they decided to rob you blind with scam charges

BazzaDP

Which leads to the question that if the house sale, even at a knocked down price, could clear the mortgage, why didn't you sell it yourself rather than give it up for repossession?

agrinnall

Bazza has a valid point, but it's too late now. I think I would be making a complaint about the additional charges using the lender's official complaints process, and if their answer doesn't satisfy you (which I suspect it won't) then escalate it to the Financial Ombudsman.

Raikks

We'd had it up for sale for some months and had considerable arrears. We also owned it as 50% shared ownership so we looked at all options and found financially it was the best option as we would have just racked up massive charges (the mortgage company was adding £125 a month just in charges by that point). We also wouldn't have cleared the mortgage and would have owed a lot more than £3k, so even if these charges stand - which we hope they don't - we're in a better situation.

The sad reality is that it is 100 times easier for people to get full mortgages than 50% ones.

We've spoken to them and asked for a breakdown of everything, they are now saying the £6k is the housing associations share of the profits, and it was an error on their part that they put home information pack, instead of housing association cheque. We'll fight as we weren't informed that the housing association would get anything except the rent due (£200 a month since October does not equal £6.5k).

I don't know why they have to make it so hard!