help needed with limitations act

pk008

can anybody help me,i have been married to my wife for seven years and together for a total of nine.about 17 years ago she was previously married and owned a home.The house was handed back to the halifax and no mortgage was paid since january 1991,The building society could not sell the house as it had been underpinned and at the time nobody would mortgage the property.My wife heard nothing from the mortgage company or anybody else since,until we both received a letter in december claiming we both owe £26,000. £14,000 of which is interest.
Her ex husband has been untraceble and we both had to attend county court in january,we cannot afford legal help and represented ourselves.
I stated i believed the matter should be statute barred as my wife had never been contacted since 1991.
The judge adjourned the case until march but said we could not simply argue it is statute barred and we must have a defence.
How can we defend something we did not know about? we have never evaded this we have always been registered on the voters register and traceable.My wife was told in 1991 by the cab that the matter was finalised and to forget about it.In the hearing the legal team for the other side stated that they had sent letters to my wifes ex mother in law but she has not spoken to them in 17 years as she was in an abusive marriage and they have never contacted us.

fermi

Hi.

There is further information on the Limitation Act here:

Factsheet | Liability for Debts and the Limitation Act

and mortgage shortfall and the Limitation Act here:

Factsheet | Mortgage Shortfalls

A couple of cases are cited that might be useful.

The legal position under the Limitation Act

There has been a lot of confusion about how long the lender has to pursue you for a mortgage shortfall under the Limitation Act 1980. This has now been clarified by the court of appeal in the cases of Bartlett v Bristol & West plc, Paragon v Banks and Halifax v Grant. The court decided that the limitation period for mortgage lenders trying to recover mortgage shortfall debts is 12 years under Section 20 of the Limitation Act 1980.

I will see if I can find links.

pk008

Thank you, i am worried as we received a letter from their solicitors today saying they believe it is not statute barred and are continuing with the action.

fermi

pk008 wrote: »

Thank you, i am worried as we received a letter from their solicitors today saying they believe it is not statute barred and are continuing with the action.

As it was a joint debt, it depends what the ex husband has done.

I'll send you a PM.

pk008

we are pretty sure that he went into hiding and has never responded because the judge asked the other sides solicitor in the hearing.who said he had not been traced.incidentally he has never paid 1p towards his now 18 year old daughters childhood.

fermi

You have a PM with a link to some people who may be able to help with a defence if one is possible.

But you need to also seek some legal advice if you haven't done so already.

You can start with: Community Legal Advice if you qualify.