Final Charging Order - Help please

Grisey

Around 6 years ago my husband had to give up work due to illness, we also had a new baby and found ourselves with finanacial difficulties. With the help of Citizens advice we sorted most of it out, reducing the monthly re-payments. With the exception of one debt which was for £2500 which was in my name only (not my husbands)
The company made a judgement against myself in March 2009. Then due to non payment placed a charging order against our home.

Not to bore you too much, but because of my husbands illness I did not tell him about this.

We have heard nothing since, up until Saturday when I received a letter from the solicitor acting for the company. The letter reads " Final Charging Order granted to our client's favour on 3rd February 2010" "Whilst our client does have the benefit of the Charging Order, we have advised them it is possible to enter into further enforcement proceedings to recover the outstanding monies from you, such enforcement proceeds could include instructing bailiffs, an attachment of earnings order, a third party debt order etc.

The debt was in my name only, not my husbands, I may be wrong but research has shown me they cannot have a Final Charging Order if the property is in joint names and the debt only one of the mortgate holders.
The letter has frightened me to the point I cannot sleep.

We are now in a slightly better place, my husband has returned to work, our little one now at school so I have also taken a part time job to try and repair our finances.

Any advice on Final Charging Order and what I can do would be very much appreciated.

nottoolate

you always get a final charging order. its just how thats then recorded with the land registry thats different

joint ownership & one persons deb = recorded as restriction

sole = can be recorded as full charge

sourcrates

Hi,
You would of been notified of the court hearing to determine the final charging order, did you attend this or not ?

This would of been your chance to explain to the court why you were in this situation, and how you intend to get back on track with your payments.
You can also use the hearing to ask the judge to attach conditions to the charging order; this could be things like, if the charging order is granted the creditor won’t force you to sell your house. If the court agrees to this then you’ll be able to avoid the worst consequences of a charging order.

Basically as long as you can agree a re-payment schedule, and stick to it, the creditor cant take any further action against you.

An "order for sale" is there ultimate weapon, but its very rare for a court to approve this, in 2013 there were 47,769 charging orders granted, but only 222 orders for sale issued.
Stick to an agreed re-payment plan, and you will have nothing to worry about.

National_Debtline

Hi Grisey and welcome to the forum.


There's nothing in that letter that should give you any specific cause for concern - it sounds quite generic to me. If the creditor were going to take any other action to enforce this judgment, they would most likely have already done so by now. Are you actually making any payments towards this debt at the moment?


Dennis
@natdebtline

Grisey

Thank you all for your responses.
Dennis@natdebtline I am paying a small token amout each month, due to other commitments and a very low income I cannot increase the payments any further at the moment.

Sourcrates, going back to 2010 I did receive the court date, due to hurrendous things going on at home I didnt attend (silly mistake by me)
Can they still send bailiffs to my home?

sourcrates

Grisey wrote: »

Thank you all for your responses.
Dennis@natdebtline I am paying a small token amout each month, due to other commitments and a very low income I cannot increase the payments any further at the moment.

Sourcrates, going back to 2010 I did receive the court date, due to hurrendous things going on at home I didnt attend (silly mistake by me)
Can they still send bailiffs to my home?

Has this token payment been agreed with them ?

If so, then no, they cant, but if they haven't formally accepted this amount, then it could be a possibility.

However, you have to have goods that they would be able to sell, such as a car, or expensive TV etc, they cant take every day items that are essential to you.

hiny

Hi regarding the tact that a charging order cant be made on joint property.i want to ask im divorced hv 3small kids. I hv asked court to force sale without ex permission as cant contact him and i cant affird mortgage.i hv a debt and charging irder going on 6april at court.
Does this mean if court allows sale i can sell and i dont hv to pay the charging order?but wont they still come after me?
And is restriction still on new buyers register?

fatbelly

hiny wrote: »

Hi regarding the tact that a charging order cant be made on joint property.i want to ask im divorced hv 3small kids. I hv asked court to force sale without ex permission as cant contact him and i cant affird mortgage.i hv a debt and charging irder going on 6april at court.
Does this mean if court allows sale i can sell and i dont hv to pay the charging order?but wont they still come after me?
And is restriction still on new buyers register?

The court can't order a sale on its own - the creditor with the charging order would have to apply for the order.

http://debtcamel.co.uk/charging-order-sale/

In your situation, where the debt is in one name (recorded as a restriction) on a jointly owned home, I still think that a judge would be unlikely to award it without the other joint owner being aware. And so the creditor would be paying fees with no likelihood of success.

You need to take advice on what is the best option in your circumstances.