Landlord bankruptcy

Minkym00

amy12456 said:

Minkym00 said:

Sorry but there’s no sugar coating it. Your MIL has been very unwise letting her situation get as far as bankruptcy. Her property is now under the control of the Official Receiver, who is now your landlord. They’ll be in touch soon enough to start claiming your rental payments as your MIL will not be allowed to keep this money. She won’t be able to pay her mortgage either.

As she doesn’t live in the property, and you are not her dependents, then you won’t get the 3 years that the OR has to deal with a family home. An Insolvency Practitioner will be appointed straight away who will want to sell the property as soon as possible to realised the cash to pay her debts. All her debts will be paid from the proceeds of sale after her mortgage is paid off (not just the creditor that petitioned for her bankruptcy), plus the OR’s fees (£8k) plus the expenses of the IP (which will be substantial). Hopefully there will be some left over.

Your best bet now will be to start saving money for a deposit on a new place to live.

Thanks for your honesty, this is hugely appreciated. Someone did try and serve a letter on her here a while back and I told them her new address. She mentioned it was a solicitor serving some kind of form on her. Im guessing its all linked, but she did say the her debt management company was dealing with it and it would be added to the DMP. It might seem a daft question but the debt is now passed this point now right? And the debt in question now cant be added to the DMP?

A DMP is just an arrangement with creditors and not legally binding. It’s not an IVA and the bankruptcy debt can’t just be added to it I’m afraid - it’s too late for that now. 

Once the bankruptcy order has been made the only way out is to appeal it (and MIL would need grounds) or to annul it based on a) it ought not to have been made or b) the debts and fees are paid to the satisfaction of the Court. An “ought not” annulment could be granted on the basis that the debt is not owed, or that the the petition was not served correctly. Seeing as they attempted service at your address and not hers there could be something here worth looking at, but don’t get your hopes up as you have them get new address and they likely served her there. 

MalMonroe

It seems to me that you're working a bit in the dark here. You don't have all the details pertaining to this B10 Form and your MIL doesn't seem to have given you many details. So it really is difficult for people on here to give advice and some of them appear to be just hazarding guesses, which is not helpful.

Before panicking, you and your partner need to get together with your MIL and discuss everything. It may or may not be as bad as you are thinking. 

When creditors (not debtors) have applied for bankruptcy on someone else's behalf, debt help agencies can give advice and help. I'd use Stepchange, since they helped me to get a DRO a few years ago and I found them to be non-judgmental, helpful and kind under extremely difficult circumstances. Click on this link here https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/creditors-making-you-bankrupt.aspx

If the worst does happen and you are kicked out of your home, you will not be left homeless as you have a child. You may be offered temporary accommodation which is rubbish but you won't be homeless.

Please do try to stop guessing what's happening and speak to your MIL and get all the relevant information. Then phone StepChange. 

It's a scary time but I guess it's much scarier for your MIL than for you. You'll need to stick together to get through this but you will get through. 

flipflopflo

You could check here to see if she has already been made bankrupt 
https://www.gov.uk/search-bankruptcy-insolvency-register

Im afraid that your MIL may not want to talk to you about her money problems or will just brush over them and keep her head in the sand. I really think you are going to have to be a bit mercenary and think about your family and if you need to stay put till the last minute to get housed then do. 

fatbelly

flipflopflo said:

You could check here to see if she has already been made bankrupt 
https://www.gov.uk/search-bankruptcy-insolvency-register

Im afraid that your MIL may not want to talk to you about her money problems or will just brush over them and keep her head in the sand. I really think you are going to have to be a bit mercenary and think about your family and if you need to stay put till the last minute to get housed then do. 

That last point is VERY important if you are looking for help from the council under homelessness regs. If you leave earlier then you will be judged as intentionally homeless and the council will say they have no statutory duty to house you.