Mortgage Broker concerns

oranges_lemons

About 16 months ago my son and his partner wished to buy a home together. My son had no debts but she had £23,500 worth of debts in her name. Her father is a mortgage broker and said he couldn’t get a mortgage for them because of her bad credit history. He said if my son took out a loan and paid off her debts then he could get them a mortgage and agreed to pay him back the £20,000 once the mortgage had gone through to buy a part rent part buy home. My son paid off £3,500 off one of her credit cards with his personal money and then took out a loan for £20,000. He paid this direct to her bank account so she could pay off her debts and she has been transferring the money to my son every month to pay off this loan. Her father got them a mortgage but a condition of that mortgage was that once they had moved into the house the £20,000 loan should be paid off which her father and his wife had agreed to as my son and their daughter had no other way of paying this off with having to pay the mortgage and rent. My son and his partner have recently split up and her father has not paid this loan off and she has stopped sending him the monthly amount. My sons partner said that even though her father and his wife said they would pay it off they are now denying this as there is nothing in writing and my son has now been left with her debts. Is there any way he can make a complaint about her father and make him pay for his daughters debt?

BarelySentientAI

My guess - probably not if there's no paper trail.

Voyager2002

Would son's ex be willing to go to court and confirm that her parents had made that promise?

If not, then there is no evidence of the agreement and so he has no redress. 

Hoenir

Expensive life lesson. Words are cheap. 

cjdew

In the nicest possible way, the father knew exactly what he was doing here... 

pdel61

I doubt you can get very much redress for this, but you could try:

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/how-complain

LinLui

I would be very cautious here. A condition of the mortgage was that he paid off the loan once they had moved into the house. He obviously hasn't done that, so he hasn't complied with teh terms of the mortgage. There is no proof that the Ex's parents said they would pay it, and besides which, if they moved over a year ago, surely it was obvious that they weren't coughing up the money even before the split. And you can't force a third party to pay for someone elses debt - if anyone owes him the money (and legally nobody does) it is the ex.They aren't the fathers debts to pay. And at this moment, the only person with a debt to pay is your son, and it might not be wise for it to come to light that he has breached the mortgage terms by not repaying the loan. 

It's an expensive lesson, but I can't see that he has any way of forcing this. Are you able to assist him in any way?

penners324

A verbal contract is still a contract.

The mortgage terms about the refund would also be good evidence.

Get him to issue a final demand. Then court action.

A complaint to the Ombudsman for mortgage brokers can also be made. It's a shocking abuse of the professional standards.

penners324

A judge will decide on the balance of probabilities so there's a reasonable chance.

ACG

Is there literally nothing? No whatsapp/text/email anywhere that would help your argument? 
If there is ANYTHING, I would probably suggest they deal with it directly with you as you have an ace up the sleeve in that they work in financial services so the risk to them is greater. But that only works if you have some evidence.

@Penners324 raises a good point though. On the balance of probabilities who would you side with? Someone who has paid off a partners loan and then been getting the repayments for that until they split or the other sides version that it was never agreed? I know what I would go with, but obviously I am not a judge. 

Who is living in the house? Could that be used as a bargaining chip? If there is more than £23k equity in there you might be able to get it back that way. 

dunstonh

 Is there any way he can make a complaint about her father and make him pay for his daughters debt?

What the father did was not a regulated activity.  So, no.   But......

I doubt you can get very much redress for this, but you could try:
https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/how-complain

It is not a regulated activity, so no. This is a civil case. However, if a regulated individual is subject to a civil case and holds controlling or senior manager permissions on the FCA register, then there are some risks as some PI insurers will ask if they are subject to legal action.    

If the loan wasn't declared on the mortgage application, then there is a case to complain about mortgage advice.

If the process required was advised and recorded on the factfind and mortgage closure letter, then it becomes a regulated activity.

There should be sufficient audit trails to show the money coming over each month and a sufficient audit trail showing where it was paid in the first place, which would help build a civil case.