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DrydensFairfax letter about surplus funds
Damocles8192
Posts: 1 Newbie
I'll try not to make this too long a first post.
I've received a letter in the post today from DrydensFairfax solicitors saying they are currently dealing with the surplus funds regarding the sale of the above property. They quote the correct address for a flat I owned from 2007 to 2015 where I basically quit and relocated as I had serious debt problems at the time.
What I'm trying to work out is that if the company is telling me the truth and there is money left over after the vultures picked it clean before selling it a year later, or if it's some kind of honey-trap to try and get me to contact them so they can then claim I actually owe money on the estate and they want it.
Is a Solicitors letter allowed to state something like this if it's not actually true? The letter is signed with just the Solicitors name rather than an actual person.
As I say they have the correct property address and the letter has been sent to my current address where I have been living for around 8 months. This is my third address since leaving the property in question but they've obviously managed to track me down, even though I have a different surname now.
The flat was purchased in February 2007 for £89,000 on a 30 year mortgage which was paid every month up until leaving the flat around April 2015. The last mortgage statement I had said I had only paid around £1,200 off the property at the time - even though it was £500+ a month for 8.5 years - but that's going to be due to paying off the interest first.
Checking Zoopla records the property was sold in April 2016 for £99,950 - which was around a year later. Probably took them around six months to get access as I had no access to any mail going there so wouldn't have answered any legal letters.
So there's a £10,000 profit between the buying and selling of the property and I'm assuming the amount paid off the property would have been significantly upped once the interest had been recalculated on the closing down of that mortgage. As I recall I could only get a mortgage of £83,000 at the time so the company - Northern Rock just shortly before they went under - gave me a £12,000 loan to run along the same timeline as the mortgage so I could raise the rest of the flats cost and also have a few quid to clear some other debt I had.
Now, on taking over the flat, the charges for anything that needed doing after six-nine months of being empty probably got charged to said mortgage account, and also probably charges for six-nine months of missed mortgage payments. Additionally there were probably selling fees which dipped into that final sale cost. I also had a debt recovery company that had secured a judgement around £7,000 or so against any future sale so they would get paid off as well when the property sold.
So I'd almost paid off a third of the flat in the time my mortgage was meant to run. Is it realistic to expect that they might actually still have funds in that account that I'm entitled to claim? The company is an out and out dedicated debt collection firm according to their website and there's no mention there that they ever get involved in situations like this.
The letter looks legitimate enough and they even have a form where they are requesting me to send two forms of ID - or copies certified by a solicitor to submit my claim. There's also the question of submitting a PPI claim against the mortgage company afterwards which obviously I would have not had any intention of doing before as I'd bailed on the property.
Anyone ever had a similar situation?
I've received a letter in the post today from DrydensFairfax solicitors saying they are currently dealing with the surplus funds regarding the sale of the above property. They quote the correct address for a flat I owned from 2007 to 2015 where I basically quit and relocated as I had serious debt problems at the time.
What I'm trying to work out is that if the company is telling me the truth and there is money left over after the vultures picked it clean before selling it a year later, or if it's some kind of honey-trap to try and get me to contact them so they can then claim I actually owe money on the estate and they want it.
Is a Solicitors letter allowed to state something like this if it's not actually true? The letter is signed with just the Solicitors name rather than an actual person.
As I say they have the correct property address and the letter has been sent to my current address where I have been living for around 8 months. This is my third address since leaving the property in question but they've obviously managed to track me down, even though I have a different surname now.
The flat was purchased in February 2007 for £89,000 on a 30 year mortgage which was paid every month up until leaving the flat around April 2015. The last mortgage statement I had said I had only paid around £1,200 off the property at the time - even though it was £500+ a month for 8.5 years - but that's going to be due to paying off the interest first.
Checking Zoopla records the property was sold in April 2016 for £99,950 - which was around a year later. Probably took them around six months to get access as I had no access to any mail going there so wouldn't have answered any legal letters.
So there's a £10,000 profit between the buying and selling of the property and I'm assuming the amount paid off the property would have been significantly upped once the interest had been recalculated on the closing down of that mortgage. As I recall I could only get a mortgage of £83,000 at the time so the company - Northern Rock just shortly before they went under - gave me a £12,000 loan to run along the same timeline as the mortgage so I could raise the rest of the flats cost and also have a few quid to clear some other debt I had.
Now, on taking over the flat, the charges for anything that needed doing after six-nine months of being empty probably got charged to said mortgage account, and also probably charges for six-nine months of missed mortgage payments. Additionally there were probably selling fees which dipped into that final sale cost. I also had a debt recovery company that had secured a judgement around £7,000 or so against any future sale so they would get paid off as well when the property sold.
So I'd almost paid off a third of the flat in the time my mortgage was meant to run. Is it realistic to expect that they might actually still have funds in that account that I'm entitled to claim? The company is an out and out dedicated debt collection firm according to their website and there's no mention there that they ever get involved in situations like this.
The letter looks legitimate enough and they even have a form where they are requesting me to send two forms of ID - or copies certified by a solicitor to submit my claim. There's also the question of submitting a PPI claim against the mortgage company afterwards which obviously I would have not had any intention of doing before as I'd bailed on the property.
Anyone ever had a similar situation?
0
Comments
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Paranoid ? Moi ?
They have your address why on Earth would they go through such a charade to try to entrap you if you really owed money.0 -
Damocles8192 wrote: »What I'm trying to work out is that if the company is telling me the truth and there is money left over after the vultures picked it clean before selling it a year later, or if it's some kind of honey-trap to try and get me to contact them so they can then claim I actually owe money on the estate and they want it.
Not that difficult to trace you. If they were after money they would be saying so in their letter. No need to play games.0
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