Can this be done?

Spendless

elsien said:

Spendless said:

xylophone said:

Surely the mortgagee provides an annual statement?
Is there no sign of this among the deceased's papers?
Is the widow acting as administrator of the deceased's estate?

It's been asked time and time again to the surviving relative, how much is the IO mortgage for and when is it up. Always get the reply 'they can't remember' So unless the adult kids did a hunt or were there when any statment turned up, it remains unknown.
 
The deceased relative didn't leave anything, no cash or assets etc. They I believe were on the joint mortgage on a property that is well under the amount linked to earlier 

That sounds like it could potentially be an "I really don't want to think about it", unless the person has never had any involvement in finances. If the adult children suggest they phone with the person's consent, it would be interesting to see whether they agree or not. 

I would agree it's a 'I don't want to think about it' or possibly a 'I don't want to discuss it'
It was asked what the plan was for replayment at the end of the term to which the reply was 'they would be dead by then so it didn't matter' 

elsien

LPA isn't going to resolve anything for them then, because if the parent has capacity then they still need consent to be able to gather any information. Which they are going to have to do to put any sort of  plan in place. 
Is it possible the parent doesn't want the proposed arrangements to go ahead, and is using this to block rather than coming straight out and saying it?    Or maybe it's just too soon for them to want to  think about it, following their bereavement. 
It sounds as much about family dynamics as it does about the purely financial aspects. 

xylophone

The title deeds will say what the amount was, when first borrowed, but won't confirm the current outstanding balance which could be more than the house is worth.

If it's interest only then the capital sum borrowed remains unchanged?

Spendless

xylophone said:

The title deeds will say what the amount was, when first borrowed, but won't confirm the current outstanding balance which could be more than the house is worth.

If it's interest only then the capital sum borrowed remains unchanged?

The house was originally bought decades ago on an endowment. Before the endowment was up, relative took out an IO mortgage and used the money to pay debt. . Some (5?) years later the endowment that was to originally pay off the house would have matured. It's suspected that the money from this has been spent.
.
So would the title deeds say what the amount was when the house was first purchased decades ago  or what the outstanding amount of the property is now?

From replies it's looking like they didn't need to go for PoA to find out exactly what has been done. We'll see if they manage to find out the info. 

xylophone

 The endowment mortgage was also on an interest only basis? The parents paid interest only to the mortgagee on the basis that the maturity proceeds of the endowment would repay the loan?
The mortgagee would have taken a first charge on the property and would have expected the loan to be paid off at the end of the term.

Before the end of the term the parents took out a second loan secured on the property and that lender took a second charge?  This is the current lender?

Are you sure that the first loan was not paid off with the proceeds of the endowment at the end of the term?

I would suggest checking the situation at the Land Registry.
https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/copies-of-deeds

Spendless

xylophone said:

 The endowment mortgage was also on an interest only basis? The parents paid interest only to the mortgagee on the basis that the maturity proceeds of the endowment would repay the loan?
The mortgagee would have taken a first charge on the property and would have expected the loan to be paid off at the end of the term.

Before the end of the term the parents took out a second loan secured on the property and that lender took a second charge?  This is the current lender?

Are you sure that the first loan was not paid off with the proceeds of the endowment at the end of the term?

I would suggest checking the situation at the Land Registry.
https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/copies-of-deeds

My understanding of the situation is that when the property was first bought, it was on an endowment mortgage . So parents paid the interest and had an endowment policy which (ideally) would eventually pay off the mortgage.

Roll forward to around 5 years before the endowment is due to mature, and 'pay off' the mortgage (depending on how well it had faired).
Some debt had been accummulated over the years, that ran into £1,000s. 
Parent then went and got an IO mortgage for x amount of time to pay off the original mortgage and also their debts

5 years later when the endowment does mature, it is believed that  the money was spent and not used to pay anything off the mortgage.

The amount the mortgage matured for (based on the original price the house would have cost) would not have covered the whole amount borrowed at the point parent went and got the IO mortgage.

We can only guess at figures and time span due to vague recollections of the time, when parent said that's what they were going to do. My own memory is that the total debt far exceeded anything like the endowment would mature at. When I asked what the intentions were for the money that would come in when the endowment matured, the reply was 'they hadn't decided yet' This is why I don't believe anything was paid back.  

xylophone

The parents re-mortgaged the property and in so doing redeemed the original.

The charge taken by the original mortgagee should have been removed.

The original mortgage was interest only therefore  the capital  originally borrowed would have been unchanged when the new mortgage, also interest only was taken out.

One assumes therefore that the amount owing is the same as that borrowed all those years ago?

This is clearly a matter of some concern to you.   Have you  checked at the Land Registry?
Details of charges should be there.

Spendless

xylophone said:

The parents re-mortgaged the property and in so doing redeemed the original.

The charge taken by the original mortgagee should have been removed.

The original mortgage was interest only therefore  the capital  originally borrowed would have been unchanged when the new mortgage, also interest only was taken out.

One assumes therefore that the amount owing is the same as that borrowed all those years ago?

This is clearly a matter of some concern to you.   Have you  checked at the Land Registry?
Details of charges should be there.

I suppose it depends what you mean 'by all those years ago'

If you mean when the house was originally bought then No beause there was debt (eg loans, credit cards, overdraft, no idea what)  so the 2nd mortgage taken out was to finish off the original mortgage AND  pay off the debt. 

If you mean at the point this current IO mortgage was taken out - yes 

Can anyone check the land registry? 

elsien

They can, for a small fee. Make sure you use the right website as there's a few of those companies who charge extra for doing what you can easily do for yourself.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry