Voluntary repossession

kit43

IT'S A LONG ONE BEAR WITH ME!! :rolleyes:

Does anyone have any experience of handing their keys over to mortgage company voluntarily? I have been unable to carry on paying mortgage due to spiralling rates and second charge on property. Have moved into rented (have just entered IVA but did this before it was finalised) and put property on market.

Found out before Xmas that I could hand back keys to avoid going to court so wrote to Future Mortgages via their solicitors asking for advice ie could I do this, could they please let me know and also asked for a period of notice as I still had possessions in the property
Future's solicitors said they would let me know when they had a response

Didn't hear anything but put this down to it being holiday period. Former neighbour rang me last week to say entry had been gained to property, locks changed and 7 day notice put in window (basically said we had 7 days to remove our "chattels" and contact number for estate agents who had keys

Future said they had my letter and I had sent them my keys (utter rubbish haven't given my keys to anyone), their solicitors very apologetic for not keeping me up to date on fact that future had asked them to close file which may have given me some indication that they were taking some kind of action. Future have my new address but didn't give me any notice - if it hadn't been for my neighbour I may have lost all my possessions.

Senior partner from their solicitors arranged for me to have access to keys to empty our attic and shed - when we got there I was very distressed to find that they had completely emptied our attic and piled all our possessions up in one of the bedroom (there was a LOT of stuff in the attic so this was like a huge mountain).

Things were broken, personal stuff letters photos etc that had fallen out of boxes had been put into black bags with smashed pictures. They'd taken all the spare pots of paint out of our shed and put them in the utility, shoved all the stuff that was in the garden into the shed or into black bags left in the back lane, emptied one kitchen drawer into a black bag with all sorts of other bits they'd picked up, there was also a black bag with several items of my clothing (think they had been hanging up under the stairs) which were soaked through wet and in with a bottle of toilet cleaner and a candle which was made of tiny balls of wax all mixed up with the wet clothes

Does anyone know if they are allowed to do this???? Their solicitor told me last week when I expressed concern at someone entering my home that they were not permitted to touch my property - surely they'd want to protect themselves - for all they know my granny's antique jewellery could have been in the attic and could now be missing

Am taking some free initial legal advice but if anyone has experienced something similar please please let me know

Cheers folks

K

PS I did take lots of photos before we emptied the bedroom

immoral_angeluk

I'm sorry I don't know anything of use but just wanted to suggest posting this on the mortgages board as you may get more help there.

hitback

hm, sounds like they maybe liable for damages, but not legal expert so have no idea on this sorry, will bump this up for you and someone with more experience may be able to help? I definitely think you have something to fight here!
Good luck with this

churchrat

hi
what an awful way to start your year. I'm sure that they are not allowed to traet your possesions as thier own. Have you thought about getting a solicitor involved? many do one free consultation, look them up in yellow pages or go along to CAB.
good luck

dubsey

I'm sorry to hear about the awful way they've treated your things. My aunt and uncle were repossessed last summer, although not a voluntary thing, they needed to be rehoused by the council so had to wait right up until the bailiff came (who I have to add was nothing like I expected and was a really lovely woman). They left loads of things there because they hadn't had time to remove it all-I think hoping they would get a stay of execution of another couple of weeks. They were worried about their things, but the bailiff definately told us that their things were not to be touched by anyone. They also had to get the keys from the estate agents and had seven days to remove anything they wanted-after that time they were not allowed to re-enter the property. When they returned everything was exactly as they had left it.

Do you know who has moved everything? I would try and find out and definately seek advise from CAB. Leaving your home -albeit voluntarily, is upsetting enough without adding to it.

kit43

Thank you all so much for your advice - this is the first time I've posted on here and it's given me a lovely warm feeling knowing that there are people out there who care enough to reply:grouphug:

I consulted a solicitor yesterday for some free legal advice - he rang back this morning to say he thought we had enough for a case for compensation. It's going to cost about £300 on account which we can manage towards the end of the month to write a threatening letter to the mortage company to see what they are prepared to offer for breakages and also for the way the property was broken into by their agents to gain entry and also for the distress caused - the worst thing was opening one of the black bags they'd packed up and finding the pictures that were taken of myself and my first born minutes after he'd been delivered all mixed together with glass from smashed pictures.

Anyway will keep you updated - I have to give keys back to estate agent today but am allowed to sign them out again at the weekend to empty the shed.