Lending money to friends & family

leebell

Hi I wonder if someone could help, 3 years ago my mother-in-law lent us 85k (with the agreement that we paid it back by end of feb 2014 with interest which we have been paying monthly)to help us buy a house as we couldnt get a mortgage at the time due to previous bad debts which are all now spent, when we bought the property the deeds are in our name.
She is now saying that she wants the money as soon as possible as she has had a major falling out with my wife.
She is saying that the house is hers and that we are living here rent free and she would sell the house and keep the profit, we have every intention of paying her back but have discussed that if we still couldn't get a mortgage or loan we would sell the house to give her her money back.
Who owns the house and where do we stand as she has said she can get us out

gb12345

leebell wrote: »

Hi I wonder if someone could help, 3 years ago my mother-in-law lent us 85k (with the agreement that we paid it back by end of feb 2014 with interest which we have been paying monthly)to help us buy a house as we couldnt get a mortgage at the time due to previous bad debts which are all now spent, when we bought the property the deeds are in our name.
She is now saying that she wants the money as soon as possible as she has had a major falling out with my wife.
She is saying that the house is hers and that we are living here rent free and she would sell the house and keep the profit, we have every intention of paying her back but have discussed that if we still couldn't get a mortgage or loan we would sell the house to give her her money back.
Who owns the house and where do we stand as she has said she can get us out

You own the house and there is nothing she can do to force you to sell it. At best, she could take you to court, but for £85,000 that will cost her a lot of money with no guarantee of getting it back.

If the court found in her favour then you would end up with a CCJ or they might put a charge on the house, but they can't force you to sell the house or pay her money you don't have.

Tixy

leebell wrote: »

Hi I wonder if someone could help, 3 years ago my mother-in-law lent us 85k (with the agreement that we paid it back by end of feb 2014 with interest which we have been paying monthly)to help us buy a house as we couldnt get a mortgage at the time due to previous bad debts which are all now spent, when we bought the property the deeds are in our name.
She is now saying that she wants the money as soon as possible as she has had a major falling out with my wife.
She is saying that the house is hers and that we are living here rent free and she would sell the house and keep the profit, we have every intention of paying her back but have discussed that if we still couldn't get a mortgage or loan we would sell the house to give her her money back.
Who owns the house and where do we stand as she has said she can get us out

Hi and welcome

You say the deeds are in your name. Does she have a legal charged registered against the property? If you are not sure and don't have the paperwork to check then you can check the land registery entry for the property (cost £4 I think).

If the deeds are in your name then she does not own the property and any action she chose to take would need to be through the court (e.g. to try to reposses or to try to force you to sell).

What loan agreement was drawn up between yourselves and your mil? Was it just written by yourselves? or by a solicitor?
Was it in the written agreement that the loan would be paid in full by February 2014? what did it say the consequences/options were of not repaying in full by then?

John_Pierpoint

Tixy wrote: »

Hi and welcome

You say the deeds are in your name. Does she have a legal charged registered against the property? If you are not sure and don't have the paperwork to check then you can check the land registry entry for the property (cost £4 I think).

If the deeds are in your name then she does not own the property and any action she chose to take would need to be through the court (e.g. to try to reposes or to try to force you to sell).

What loan agreement was drawn up between yourselves and your mil? Was it just written by yourselves? or by a solicitor?
Was it in the written agreement that the loan would be paid in full by February 2014? what did it say the consequences/options were of not repaying in full by then?

£3 on-line, against your debit card; not a legal document but should show mortgages and legal charges. [My neighbour's shows a charge from his estranged wife;)]

Suggest you both patch up the disagreement before you find yourselves making lawyers rich.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Yes I borrowed (in today's money values) £15k from my sister, to buy my second house and managed to pay her back about a year later.
However that does not solve the problem of there being a lot of people who will do almost anything to borrow money and within a year or two will get all resentful and self justifying about B]not[/B paying it back.

.

freebiz14

This is something that I will never do again. A few years ago my spouse borrowed some money from me(at the time all my savings). He was abroad and I felt I needed to help him. I had him signed some agreement that he owed me the money because I noticed when he returned he was like a different person and his attitude towards me had completely changed. Shortly after I discovered that he had another girlfriend. To cut a long story short, to this day I've received only half of my money back, even with his acknowledgement in writing and that's since 2007.

That's my lesson, less hassle if I keep my money. If I can't afford to lose what I'll be lending I will not!

letthemeatcake

sammia34 wrote: »

Hi thank you so much for the speedy reply , yes the cheque was paid in to my sons account and then it was withdrawn in cash in October exactly at the clearing period after it was deposited. I was with my son as he has problems sometimes communicating, we then went home and I gave the cash to my ex. He then proceeded to pay his mum weekly from his wages that were paid into his mums building society account. We split 4 weeks ago and he has then sent numerous texts to myself with all different amounts that I apparently have!! Now today his brother contacted me informing me that he has been told he was to recover the money and that he is taking my son to court for the full amount, I am demented with worry:(

Stay strong. Let them take you to court. The Mother would have to show she arranged a loan and then paid the amount into her Son's girlfriend's Son's account and without any written, signed agreement. Anybody lending money in such circumstances would have a hard job of proving it.

I would suggest you come back on here for advice when they try to take you to court.

lisa1969x

Hi was wondering if anyone can help me , 3 years ago I borrow a friend some money to buy a car , it was paid for on my card from a car showroom , the car was registered to her , Ive been trying to get the money back but no luck , she just ignores my calls and messages , I even said she could pay me back in installments , so I was wondering if I'd be able to do anything as I don't have it in writing that it was a loan , it was just a verbal agreement . thanks

BitterAndTwisted

If there was nothing in writing to acknowledge that it was a loan then you have very generously bought your friend the car as a gift. You will never see your money back and what you thought was a friend at the time is now an ex-friend.

ALIBOBSY

lisa1969x wrote: »

Hi was wondering if anyone can help me , 3 years ago I borrow a friend some money to buy a car , it was paid for on my card from a car showroom , the car was registered to her , Ive been trying to get the money back but no luck , she just ignores my calls and messages , I even said she could pay me back in installments , so I was wondering if I'd be able to do anything as I don't have it in writing that it was a loan , it was just a verbal agreement . thanks

Best bet would be to email and/or send a letter and just hope they reply and confirm the loan so you can attempt to take things further, without any kind of proof of the loan even if you took the friend to court she could just say it was a gift and you can't prove either way.

Then again it may depend on how you think she would react to court action against her. After all if she just ignored court papers you could get a county court judgement against her. But if she hasn't got any assets or money anyway even with a court order you may not get your money back, although you would know you had screwed her credit file up for 6 years.

Ali x

DCFC79

lisa1969x wrote: »

Hi was wondering if anyone can help me , 3 years ago I borrow a friend some money to buy a car , it was paid for on my card from a car showroom , the car was registered to her , Ive been trying to get the money back but no luck , she just ignores my calls and messages , I even said she could pay me back in installments , so I was wondering if I'd be able to do anything as I don't have it in writing that it was a loan , it was just a verbal agreement . thanks

Im afraid nothing you can do, put it down to experience and dont lend anyone any money (maybe small amounts but not hundreds or thousands.)