loan repayment

daft_as_a_brush

I'm new to this site so am not really sure where to post my question. I gave a loan of £17,000 to a friend in 2011 and he promised to pay me back when he sold his house.I have pestered him for updates but he said he was not getting any viewings he has now sold his house in Jan 2014 despite telling me in Feb 2014 that he had a viewing! and when I finally found out where he had moved to he says he is sorry but he has no money,no future, no prospects and will pay me back £30 a month from his benefits!
Can anyone suggest where I go from here. Any advice will be most welcome. Thank you

27yearoldmale

Write the debt off and take it as a lesson for the future.

I presume you have nothing in writing, contract?

Gaz83

Your only option is to try to take him to court. But for that to work you need something in writing from him acknowledging that it is a loan and is to be repaid. Did you draw up a contract at the start? The £30 a month offer, is that in writing?

Thing is, even if you do take him to court, and win, a court can't make him pay what he doesn't have. If he genuinely has no money, or assets, then even though they may find in your favour, you won't have much chance of recovering your loan at anywhere near the rate you are expecting. They may even set a repayment plan that is lower than his £30 offer.

If you have nothing in writing acknowledging the loan, then I'm afraid your chances of seeing the money again are even slimmer. Chalk it up to experience and move on, without your (hopefully ex-) friend in your life.

thebritishbloke

Hopefully you've got, or are able to get something from him in writing showing that he admits the debt to you. Without this, you won't get anywhere. Even something as simple as you sending an email to him saying "Please can we come to an agreement about you repaying the £11,000 you owe me?" and him replying with "I can afford to pay you £30pm" would be sufficient, you could then take him to small claims court.

Good luck

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

OP also posted same question in Marriage, Relationships & Families

daft_as_a_brush

Thank you all for your replies.
I have a couple of handwritten letters from him. One saying that he promised he would pay me back once the house was sold and asking me to trust him and be patient. And more recently a letter offering to pay me £30 a month.

jonesMUFCforever

If the house was sold for less than the mortgage on it then there is nothing left for you.
If the house was sold for more than the mortgage and the friend used the surplus to pay off other debts then there is nothing left for you.


Stating the obvious here is why you did not take out a legal charge on the property when you lent the money - wonderful thing hindsight.


You can apply to a court for judgement against him and declare him bankrupt - but if he does not have the money he cannot repay you.


From what you posted I don't expect that you will receive any money back.

Gaz83

daft_as_a_brush wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies.
I have a couple of handwritten letters from him. One saying that he promised he would pay me back once the house was sold and asking me to trust him and be patient. And more recently a letter offering to pay me £30 a month.

Right, so it looks like you would have a case in court of proving that it was a loan and not a gift. However that doesn't solve the potential problem of him having no money or no assets.

Have you considered checking Zoopla or the like to see if you can find out how much he sold his house for?

jonesMUFCforever

Even if you knew how much the house was sold for it will not tell you the amount of debt the friend had beforehand.