17 year old debt stopping house selling

angeljay

My parents are selling their property. My tutor who owned property at the time, is claiming rent arrears from 17 years ago. She instructed the courts at the time, my parents received no information on court proceedings and the case went against their property. It is now blocking the sale of the house. Can a ccj be still active after 17 years without any communication? They do not know the figure that is required. She is now saying there will be interest to pay and legal fees. Do we have anyway of removing this? And why was it taken against their property. 

sammyjammy

your post makes no sense?  Your tutor owned the property at the time?  At what time?  17 years ago?  If your parents purchased the property from them where does the rent or rent arrears come in?  If after the CCJ as it would seem a charge was added to the property this will be removed by repayment of the debt?  It seems unlikely there is a charge on their property that they weren't aware of.

angeljay

So I lived in her property 20 years ago whilst at uni and was in it for 8 months. I moved in to her house in the second term. She wanted to charge rent for the first term which I wasn’t living in there at the time. My rent was paid each month I lived there but I left she wanted to charge us for the first few months. She instructed the courts to my parents house. (Different address) At the time they were renting their house out and lived in Scotland so they didn’t receive any court information. Now 17 years later they are living back there and she has an order out on the land registry. It says charging order- but there has been no contact or letters regarding this. 

The house she is claiming the debt for is not owned by my parents, I was living in it renting at the time - they are trying to sell their own house now and have this on their file - they are not buying another house either, so just getting the money from the sale of their own house. 

la531983

So are you claiming a charging order was placed on a house that you do not own, and the debt was solely in your name?

angeljay

The debt is in my fathers name as he signed the tenancy agreement and paid rent for me, but nobody seems to be able to tell him how much the amount due to be paid is now. 

Time2Go_25

At a guess the parent of the OP were a guarantor for the rent and used an address that they were not living in as their address. Paperwork went there but was never seen. 

fatbelly

So a ccj has been secured by a charging order. On the face of it this should not prevent a sale provided the sale price covers all the debt secured on the property.

The conveyancing solicitor should write to the creditor mentioned in the Land Registry entry to find the balance.

Is the property being sold, in England?

Are you sure that this is recorded as a full charge? If the debt was in one person's name and the house jointly owned then it should be recorded as a restriction.

silvercar

angeljay said:

The debt is in my fathers name as he signed the tenancy agreement and paid rent for me, but nobody seems to be able to tell him how much the amount due to be paid is now. 

A secured debt never goes away. They need to get in touch with her and find out what is owed. The original charging order should say, though interest will have accrued and be payable. In fact, she would be entitled to ask an accountant to calculate the interest due and add the fee to the debt. She would then (be obliged to) withdraw the charging order. 

The other option would be to go to court to prove that correct processes weren’t followed or that the debt has been repaid, but the costs and time to do that would be more than just clearing it.

angeljay

It’s states on the land registry it’s an interim charge. The creditor has been contacted and can’t remember the charge amount. She is now saying there will be interest and solicitors fees to be paid but doesn’t know the balance. It’s been sold in England. 

The house being sold is in joint names, but the debt is in my dads name only 

fatbelly

Then I don't understand why it's not a restriction. You might want to ask on this thread - there are a couple of knowledgable posters

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1839539/charging-order-the-myth#latest