Charging Order on property

Scared_witless

Hi, Can someone please help I am feeling very despondant again! I am in the middle of writing to our creditors offering full and final settlements though I doubt if it will be accepted as the amount I will have to offer is probably about 25%. Bearing in mind that if this fails our only alternative is BR. We are in negative equity with our property and have no assets so basically the reality is the offer is the best they will get. When contacting creditors to get the exact amount to work out their pro-rata amount, one loan has been sold on to a company called Marlin and they have informed me that it is not at the 'settlement stage' and they will look to put a charge on my property. (I did explain that their was no equity in the property) If they do this and we do have to go down BR route how will this charge affect us. Will it be wiped out with the BR or will it remain on the land registry for if and when we sell the house in years to come. If this is the case I think maybe BR would be our best option, what do you think.

Richard_S

Hi Scared witless,

All the time the property is in negative equity it won't make a ny difference at all. They have nothing to gain and only money to lose if they enforce the charge with no prospect of a return. Courts are also very reluctant to make families homeless when companies try and enforce a charging order under those circumstances.

If you declare bankruptcy before they get the charging order then they will become unsecured creditors and won't be able to apply for the charging order, so it does make sense under those circumstances to declare bankruptcy before they get the charging order. Once you're declared bankrupt, all your assets and liabilities rest with the O.R and if the property is in negative equity you'll be able to purchase your Beneficial Interest from the O.R for a nominal £1 plus the O.R's legal fees of £213. That will ensure that you'll benefit from any future increase in the value of your house.

I'm sure of my ground here, but I'd urge you to take professional advice; property is not something you want to take any chances with. I'm assuming you've already taken advice from one of the debt charities; if not their contact details are easy enough to find on here.

Be careful what you do though; if you can offer 25% of your debts then any cash you have will become part of your estate in bankruptcy; unless you lose it somewhere.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: Shouldn't be difficult with HMRC selling people's personal details to the underworld.:eek: :eek:

Regards

Richard

tigerfeet2006

Thats good advice from Richard there Scared Witless.

The numbers you need to ring for advice are in my signature. Try National Debtline maybe.

Scared_witless

Hi thanks for that you guys, we have used the services of National Debtline, as our house is only just in negative equity it makes it quite scarey, if you're still about do you know how long it would take to put a charging order on the house, I'm just wandering if we've got time to do the full and final settlement thing -(we havn't got that money bye the way, a family member has offered to try to help on condition it gets us out of this massive mess). cheers

Richard_S

Scared_witless wrote: »

Hi thanks for that you guys, we have used the services of National Debtline, as our house is only just in negative equity it makes it quite scarey, if you're still about do you know how long it would take to put a charging order on the house, I'm just wandering if we've got time to do the full and final settlement thing -(we havn't got that money bye the way, a family member has offered to try to help on condition it gets us out of this massive mess). cheers

Hi Scared,

I don't know how long it would take to put a charging order on your house; there are so many variables. How quick will Marlin move; are they really serious, or is it just a threat; how busy are the Courts. I would doubt whether it could be done within a month, and that gives you Christmas to put a spanner in their works.

I'm all for negotiating with creditors; it's surprising what they'll accept when they realise that it's the best offer they're going to get. The thing that frightens me is the prospect of borrowing money from a relative.

You'll feel a moral obligation to repay that debt regardless of what happens in the future.

If you manage to get a deal with all your creditors, and that's a big if, your credit rating will show as defaulted for six years in the same way that it would if you were declared bankrupt, and you'd still have the debt to repay to your relative.

With bankruptcy, you'd still get to keep the house and would be completely debt free. You may have to pay an IPA if you have surpus income, but that's only for three years.

Difficult decisions and no black and white answers to the questions you raise. It's more of a personal decision as opposed to being a rational choice between a number of alternatives.

Keep talking amongst yourselves, and posting on here, and try to form some sort of consensus between you.

Regards

Richard

debt_doctor

Really good posts on here today by Richard, im in full agreement