Urgent Mortgage Help, not sure what to do

Teresa60

Right here goes, bit of a long story: My husband of 30 years walked out on me (3 children living at home, 26, 19 and 14) just over 2 years ago and went to Malaysia supposedly for a better life!! Since then he has been paying the mortgage and Ive been paying bills (on a part time job and tax credits). He has had bits of work here and there but nothing substantial (not the life he was expecting obviously). He has tons of debt (nothing to do with me). The mortgage is interest only because of his bad credit record. He has only just told my daughter via a whatsapp message that he now has no money left to pay the mortgage!!
What I need to know is what should I do? Do I go to a solicitor, citizens advice. Would I have to sell the house? Really worried. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

hildosaver

Hi there - sorry to hear about your situation.

First thing to know is this - is the mortgage in his name, your name or jointly in both your names? This is to find out liability.

Next thing to know is this - what is the amount owed on the mortgage and what is the current value of the house?

You need to get this info and then get advice from a solicitor. If he can no longer make the payments and you are unable to make the payments somebody will need to inform the mortgage supplier asap and try and negotiate something - CAB could help with this part though whether you need to do it or your husband needs to do it depends on who's name is on the mortgage.

Good luck.

Teresa60

Thanks, it is in joint name but he makes the payments. The amount owed is approx £139,000. Not sure what the house is worth but I should imagine it would sell for about £175,000. I have no idea about mortgages so would probably have to go somewhere for advice. The trouble is with my husband being on the other side of the world and only choosing to answer some messages he gets from me it is a difficult situation. Hes never sent child maintenance but again, because he is abroad the courts cant do anything. Rubbish situation all round.

hildosaver

Ok well if it was me I would be pro-active and make contact with CAB today and tell them the situation - you will need to inform the mortgage company and use CAB to help you try and negotiate a mortgage break/reduction in payments,etc. whatever you can get. The difficulty is that (as far as I am aware) if the mortgage is in joint names it doesnt matter who has been paying the mortgage, if neither of you can pay it then it's both of you that will be liable. This is were the solicitor will help advise you of your options.

If your husband has a lot of debt and now is not paying the mortgage I suspect it's likely he will have to go bankrupt if he does return home, while he is abroad it is probably very difficult (maybe impossible) for his creditors to do anything which leaves you in a bit of a pickle re: mortgage.

You will need to ask solicitor about what options you have - you mentioned the possibility of selling the house - I'm not sure what the legalities of that would be if your husband was to object to this given both of your names on the mortgage - would he agree to a sale do you think?

The bottom line unfortunately is that if nobody can afford to pay the mortgage then you will likely need to sell the house or negotiate with the mortgage company and try and get to some arrangement which you can manage.

pathtofreedom

Do you have a solicitor to help with the divorce as they might be able to help. Or if you have home insurance does it have legal cover, although I'm not sure if it covers this sort of thing.

It will take a while to sell a house even if you put it on the market tomorrow, so once you find the paperwork for the mortgage you might be able to see if they would switch it to interest only for a while, to reduce you monthly payments possibly until you can sell it.

Really it sounds like you need legal advice though, especially if he's run up lots of other debt, as you don't want what equity is in the house ending up going to pay his bills.

Teresa60

Thankyou for your help. It is an interest only mortgage anyway. Will have to seek legal advice I think. Just hate being in this situation

AnotherJoe

What was you and husbands plan to pay off the IO mortgage and has he spent it?

Thrugelmir

What was your plan? At some point in time the mortgage will need to be repaid in any event. Perhaps it's time to move on with your life in a far broader manner. The mortgage is just one part of a number of issues that require a permanent resolution.

MortgageMamma

Teresa I just wrote you a long post but my internet DC'd and I lost it

I'll summarise it briefly so please don't think I'm writing it without emotion, I am a woman and I have had 2 divorces!

1. You need to pay the mortgage before everything apart from food. Prioritise it above everything other than what you NEED to survive.
2. If you want to keep your home, you will need to work longer hours for more money and at some point in the future "buy your ex out" - it may seem unfair and I couldn't say how it will play out but he could be grateful for the release so he can get on with his life. You say you have a 24 year old son/daughter living there. Could they go on a mortgage with you? Do they work?

3. Talk to your lender at the earliest opportunity. explain what has happened, let them help you. They will do everything they can to avoid repossession if you keep the communication channel open and make some form of payment. Within a few months you will need to begin making full payments, but negotiating partial payments now could help you in the interim whilst looking for more work.

4, if your property is repossessed it could be sold below market value. If you get less for the sale than is owed on the mortgage the lender will pursue you and your husband for the shortfall. In reality you will bear the brunt of this as he has cleared off abroad.

5. if your property is repossessed it will be harder to get a mortgage in future should you want one.

6. At this stage you need to be planning ahead, register with your local authority for housing on the basis you fear losing your home (full explanation), the same with housing associations. It takes a while to get near the top of the list with LA/HA property allocations so best to start sooner. If your situation worsens and you get notice of repossession you have to update and copy in the LA/HA so you become more of a priority.

In the meantime, sell assets, furniture that is unused, do a car boot sale or an ebay sale to raise extra funds. Even old clothes can be sold. Cut everything out fo your budget that is not essential for survival.

I hope this help, keep doing what us Mums do best - keep moving/thinking forwards, don't let the horrible situation turn you into a victim, you CAN deal with it.

MMxx

Teresa60

Thankyou so much Mortgagemamma, I need to sit down with my family and work out a plan. It makes things very difficult, my so called husband being abroad. But with all the things you have pointed out above, I have a good start. x

MortgageMamma

Keep coming back to the forum to let us know how you are going on with it, I manage half an hour or so a day on here so I will always help

MM x