Charge orders against property

ansellm1970

Hi I am currently separated from my husband and have been for almost 5 years. We have bought two properties while we were married however because of a previous house repossession in my name, both mortgages are in his name.

Since we separated he has moved to the other house and I still reside with the children in the family home. I have been paying the mortgage and have a home rights order on it too. However, he has built up various debts in his name since we split and there is now a considerable amount of charge orders secured against my home. I have had the house valued today and if I sold it (which he has given permission to) I would lose out to the sum of around £35k because of his debts which have to be paid first. I never seem to be able to get a straight answer from anybody or organisation as to whether I can apply to have the charge orders moved to the other property before I sold it and if I can how, and would it cost?

If anybody has had any experience of this or has knowledge of this scenario any advice would be greatly received!

Thanks

Tixy

I don't think you will be able to get the charging orders moved elsewhere. That would involve the creditor going back to court and to be honest there is little incentive for them to do so.
May be worth a call to national debtline though in case they think differently?

Ideally the time to fight the charging orders would have been in the court hearing (although I appreciate you may not have been aware of them before they were made final).

I don't understand how the home rights order works, presumably this doesn't detail what would happen in a situation like this? Or doesn't allow for you to have a specific amount of money / equity etc?

I presume he is not in a position (or not willing) to remortgage the other property to pay off the debts subject to the charging orders before you sell?

National_Debtline

Hi ansellm1970


Based on what we know here, I'd have to agree with Tixy that you will struggle to persuade the creditors to relinquish their charges on this property and transfer them elsewhere. Especially if the property they're being transferred to is even further away from being sold than your home is. In a scenario like this, you really have to make it worth the bother for the creditors to contemplate releasing a charge - that basically means guaranteeing them full payment immediately.


@Tixy - My broad understanding of the "home rights order" is that it is designed to prevent the husband from selling the property without OP's knowledge.


Dennis
@natdebtline

ansellm1970

Yes the home rights order means he can't sell it without my permission @Tixy

Unfortunately I didn't know anything about the the charge orders until they were done. In hindsight I should have opened all his post after he left rather than pass it onto him! I have just found out that I have approx 55k in equity in my house and want to sell it because of his insecure financial situation. With the amount of debts if he gets made bankrupt I risk losing my home. Thanks for your responses

TBagpuss

You would not be able to get the charging orders moved unless the creditors agreed, and they have no incentive to do so as it would be better for them to be paid off. However, as part of your divorce settlement, you can ask the court to take into account the value of the house your husband is living in - do you know how much equity there is in that property? It may be that the equity in the family home, even after the charging orders are paid off, will be a fair share of the total assets, but if it isn't, once other factors such as your respective needs, earning capacities, value of any other assets or pensions etc have all been taken into account, it would be open to a court to order that your husband pay you a further lump sum, or that you have a charge over his property.

I would recommend that you start divorce proceedings as soon as possible, and that you see a solicitor about your potential financial claims, particularly if your husband is still increasing his debt.

vince69

hi, my mothers house has a charging order on it ,the order was a debt against my late father
the mortgage was a joint mortgage am i right in thinking that this should be a restriction or
because my father is no longer with us is is it a charging order.
thanks vince

National_Debtline

vince69 wrote: »

hi, my mothers house has a charging order on it ,the order was a debt against my late father
the mortgage was a joint mortgage am i right in thinking that this should be a restriction or
because my father is no longer with us is is it a charging order.
thanks vince

Hi Vince


The effect of your late father's charging order will (all things being normal) have been to change your parents' ownership status from "joint tenants" to "tenants in common". This is an important distinction, as it would mean that his share did not simply pass automatically to your mother upon his death, and his creditors would be entitled to seek to recover their debts from his share of the property.


I don't mean to sound alarmist, as there are likely to be measures that can be taken to protect your mother's interests. However I would recommend that you/she speak with a probate solicitor about this.


Dennis
@natdebtline