Reposession - negative equity

Lobster_chops

Myself and my ex partner had a house together, he refused to sell at the time despite me requesting this several times, and instead rented it out to various people that refused to pay.  It got to the point were we owed thousands and got taken to court and did a voluntary repossession, and have ended up owing £35,000.
I have set up a payment plan of £350 per month to start paying this off, but the debt people haven't managed to get hold of my ex to start paying anything off, and i am very doubtful they will manage too get him to sign up to anything knowing what he is like. 
My question is, is there any way i can do anything so i don't get stuck with paying the entire amount, i'm happy to pay my half but don't think its fair that i should have to pay it all, so is there a way of forcing an agreement in any way so we only get held accountable for half of the debt each? 
Any advice appreciated.
thanks

MeteredOut

Lobster_chops said:

Myself and my ex partner had a house together, he refused to sell at the time despite me requesting this several times, and instead rented it out to various people that refused to pay.  It got to the point were we owed thousands and got taken to court and did a voluntary repossession, and have ended up owing £35,000.
I have set up a payment plan of £350 per month to start paying this off, but the debt people haven't managed to get hold of my ex to start paying anything off, and i am very doubtful they will manage too get him to sign up to anything knowing what he is like. 
My question is, is there any way i can do anything so i don't get stuck with paying the entire amount, i'm happy to pay my half but don't think its fair that i should have to pay it all, so is there a way of forcing an agreement in any way so we only get held accountable for half of the debt each? 
Any advice appreciated.
thanks

The issue is that it might not be "your half" and "his half" but that you are each jointly and severally liable for the whole debt. Do you know if that is the case?

Are you receiving advice?

TheSpectator

There is no 'half' with a joint mortgage and no 'agreement' would change the fact that the lender can pursue you for the full amount.

Whether 'fair' or not, that's how the law works with joint and several liability.

fatbelly

Yes I'm afraid that is the concept of joint and several liability.

For example, if you stopped paying, the creditor could chase you, or him, or both, for the debt. However they could only take up to 35k in total

So your plan is to pay this over 100 months?

Have you checked their maths on the 35k?

Lobster_chops

Hi all, thanks for your comments. So an update on this, we owe the 35,000 between us now through a debt company. I have set up a monthly payment plan, they won't tell me if he has set up anything or not I'll only be able to tell via updates on what's getting paid as it is all one pot.  Just wondering if anyone knows if now I have a payment plan if my credit score will now start to improve as long as I keep on top of that? 
Thanks in advance 

fatbelly

It may not even show on your credit file. Have you checked?

If it shows a default date, the whole entry drops off 6 years after that date

Lobster_chops

I've had a check it shows up as a default. My credit score looks very poor because of it at the minute. I was hoping to buy a property with my partner in the next couple of years but not sure if I'd be accepted for one with this showing up on there and with how poor it looks so was hoping the repayments going in might improve it. Maybe that it has to be after 6 years time then. 

fatbelly

One default is not fatal to a mortgage application but you would be advised to use a broker.

A couple of thoughts on the situation.

Does the default date make sense? For instance if the default was last month but the repossession happened 5 years ago, then you can argue that the default should have been applied sooner.

You say it is with a debt company. Is this a buyer, like Lowell or PRA? If so, be aware that these debts are bought for pennies in the £, maybe 1p, and so they would be open to a settlement rather than payment over 8 years

saajan_12

Lobster_chops said:

Myself and my ex partner had a house together, he refused to sell at the time despite me requesting this several times, and instead rented it out to various people that refused to pay.  It got to the point were we owed thousands and got taken to court and did a voluntary repossession, and have ended up owing £35,000.
I have set up a payment plan of £350 per month to start paying this off, but the debt people haven't managed to get hold of my ex to start paying anything off, and i am very doubtful they will manage too get him to sign up to anything knowing what he is like. 
My question is, is there any way i can do anything so i don't get stuck with paying the entire amount, i'm happy to pay my half but don't think its fair that i should have to pay it all, so is there a way of forcing an agreement in any way so we only get held accountable for half of the debt each? 
Any advice appreciated.
thanks

Unfortunately as far as the lender is concerned, there's no halves. If you're paying something, then they're less incentivised to bother tracking down the ex partner. 

As between partner and you, you could argue that you had mutually agreed to pay half each, though that's dubious if you couldn't agree enough to decide to sell. Even if successful, this would just be you claiming half of the payments from partner in a small claims court. You can't force the lender to seek the money from the ex partner. 

Your only other option is to stop paying and let the lender chase you both. You'd then be taking the risk that the amount grows further and they end up attachign your earings for all of it as they still can't find ex partner.