Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Just phoned them myself.

The arrears are - £2960.22

They've been trying to call us since October, about the missed payments and arrears, but only had my uncle's mobile number, which he's been ignoring.

He called them on March 3rd to talk about the DSS paying the interest and when asked as to why the mortgage hadn't been paid, he claimed one of the co owners (me or my dad) were in hospital and were having an operation (A lie)

When the mortgage lady started to read the scripted legal bit about what would happen to due the arrears, he got very irate and demanded to speak to a manager.

They couldn't get a manager for him, so said someone would call back in 48 hours, they didn't, so he lodged a complaint, refused to talk to them and demanded to be put through to the CHAIRMAN. (He does this with every company), they wouldn't put him through, so he hung up and has ignored them ever since.

The lady I spoke with said they don't offer interest only mortgages anymore (Strange, given that it still has them on the site), but we could apply for one, but only if we could prove hardship, so that means going through our incomes/outgoings.

What a nightmare.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

I'm not sure what the problem exactly is?

You say your father paid a deposit of £40k on a £180k house, which is over 25%. The mortgage arrears are not particularly high at £3k and considerably lower than the deposit.

Why won't they let you remortgage?

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Because they say we can't afford it, even though we could

The main issue is they don't seem to know what they're talking about, the lady says they don't offer interest only mortgages, yet their website says otherwise, so I have no idea.

They say we could switch to interest only, but only if we "prove hardship".

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Do you have the £3k to cover the arrears? Do you need to re-mortgage to get your uncle off the mortgage? Can't you simply continue the existing mortgage without the uncle, and perhaps retro-actively take a payment holiday?

Does your mortgage lender actually understand the situation and are they aware you are actually trying to solve the problem with your uncle that led to the arrears?

Edit: also: What type of mortgage do you have now? Is it interest only?

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

We don't have 3k, but we had intended on renting his room out when he left, to pay off that debt

We CAN apply for a "Change of borrower", but she said it'd be unlikely we'd get it, because they assume we can't afford the mortgage (even if we switched to interest only)

They do understand, now, because up till today, he's been feeding them non stop lies it seems.

Gonna see about applying for the mortgage rescue scheme in the mean time, as she also told us legal action due to non payment/arrears was gonna happen very soon.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Not sure what the best course of action is. First off, you need to start paying that mortgage again, assuming you haven't already done so. Next, you need to get your lender on-board, so hopefully they will work with you rather than against you. I would see about making another appointment with them to try and sort out a solution. Above all, be honest about what happened and what your plans are. I would imagine that it's not in the lender's best interest to start legal action either, so hopefully, they will help in finding a suitable solution.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

I don't know either.

We're going to citizens advice at 9am tomorrow to talk to them, then hopefully they'll refer us to the mortgage rescue thing.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Good plan...

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

What about taking out a loan to pay off the arrears?

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

No, because we'd still have to pay the full mortgage price, which we can't afford

At this rate, we're looking to use the governments buy to let scheme (words to that affect), or sell via an estate agent.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Don't know if the government mortgage help site might be any good http://mortgagehelp.direct.gov.uk/

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

You could sell and downsize and get a new mortgage, but would you get a mortgage now after all that's happened?

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

No, we wouldn't get a mortgage

Due to him not paying the mortgage, my credit rating has gone from very good/excellent to bad/fair. (And that was back in January)

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Your uncle has done a lot of damage!!!!!

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Indeed he has.

He doesn't seem able to comprehend what he's doing to us all, he either doesn't care, or he's just not right in the head (I believe it's both)

If we bring up the matter, he throws a major tantrum and literally hides in the garage, or in his car, then claims he's having an angina attack.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Well things went ok at the citizens advice place, we were first at the door and seen in 5 minutes.

The guy we saw has made an appointment to see a debt specialist, who'll negotiate/deal with the mortgage company on our behalf.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Sounds like positive news.

No one wants to lose there house, but it's better to sell it than lose it. You could rent till you can build your credit rating back up, then look to buy again...

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Yea we're going to have to once the house is sold, but the question is, can we rent, given our credit damage? heh.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

My dad found a note under his door earlier today, stating:

I have spent most of today arranging for all the arrears to be paid by next Tuesday or Monday.
I am selling my part of the house to either XXX or her brother-in-law.
I will move out and live with XXX and a tenant will take my room to pay the mortgage.
D

XXX being his so called "Partner" who's been taking all his money
So he's going to (Sell?) his apparent share in the house to someone else, even though he doesn't OWN a share and their rent is going to cover the whole £658 a month?
Jeesh

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

You need to contact the 'buyer' privately and advise them that they will be throwing their money away if they give it to him.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Once he is out you might want to get a notice of disassosiation so any further debts he runs up don't impact on you or your credit worthyness.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Yea I was thinking the same, I have a feeling he's told them they can have his share, for 70k and he'd be part owner of the house

I have no idea, but I do know he doesn't have £3000 to simply pay off the arrears, so I'm wondering if his partner or her brother in law has paid him money for it.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

They are bigger idiots than he is if that's the case.

Frankly your Uncle is a conman and appears to have committed fraud.If it were me I'd dob him in to the police especially if he is picking up benefits..

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

If any transfer of even a part ownership of property is going to have legal standing then it will need registering against the title. Whoever did the conveyancing for that should swiftly find the mortgage charge against the property which would prevent a transfer of any title until the mortgage agreed. Clearly they are not going to agree unless the debts are settled and a new mortgage allowed with the new owners, something that seems rather unlikely to happen.

Bottom line here whatever hair brained scheme he might be considering, wouldn't stand real scrutiny, and unless he is prepared to sit down with leagl advisors, yourselfs and the mortgage company to come to some binding agreement this is going to go round and round in circles until the inevitable repossesion of the property.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

I don't know for sure, because he makes a point of staying out of the house now

He leaves at 6:45am and comes back at 10:30-11:00pm.

I suspect he's promised them his "share" of the bungalow in exchange for cash, perhaps to just pay off the arrears (£3000) and he's going to try and have his name removed from the deeds or mortgage, which should be interesting.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

What's the hosue valued at, is it worth more than you payed for it?

You should be able to rent cause they ask for bond and a months payment up front.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

House cost 180k
House is currently valued at anywhere between 205, to 215k.
mortgage was 140k

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Whens your uncle moving out?

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

He hasn't said, heh

Just waiting to see if he sticks something else stupid under my dad's door.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Not a good way to treat your brother, that's the problem and the risk when relatives go into joint mortgages problems can arise.

Let's hope you can get it all sorted eventually but it's going to take a while, then hopefully you can buy another smaller house you and your dad.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Me to, as this is stressing my dad out quite badly, he's in remission for cancer and has proper angina, so this isn't doing his healthy any good.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

So let me get this right, you and your dad paid him every month and he stole the money and never bothered to pay the mortgage?

Or did you all pay into a joint account and it never got paid as there was always a shortfall?

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Not quite, the arrangement was a bit odd/complicated.

My dad doesn't pay anything, as he put down a large deposit, but as he gets pension credit, the government pays part of the interest on the mortgage. (SMI, which he's applied for in April of this year)

The uncle was supposed to pay off half the mortgage so I could afford to pay my share, because he knew that I couldn't afford to pay the £400ish a month.

Instead, he chose not to pay it off, so myself, him and my dad agreed that I would pay what I can and he would pick up the rest, as he claimed he was going to make a fortune setting up a website.

Then the government launched the SMI (support for mortgage interest scheme) which took over my contribuition, which he was more than happy with.

He knew exactly what I could afford and was happy with it.

There's three brothers on my dad's side of the family, including one in sweden, when their dad (my grandfather) passed away, they all got about 90k each in inheritance

The uncle somehow burnt through over 120k of spare cash in less than 4 years, which seemed to run out sometime back in January, as that's when the bounced direct debits started to come through from my uncle's bank.

The money I get from being on benefit pays for any appliances which break in the house, along with the internet and house insurance.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Yay a new letter.

It says:

XXXX = Partner
YYYY = Partner's sister or brother, not sure.

Not exactly sure how the mortgage is going to "revert" to £450 a month after his partner pays off the £3000 worth of arrears, perhaps I'm just reading it wrong.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Another big fat lie.

Unless all the mortgage holders are present no agreement can be made or signed. He cannot go to Santander and arrange this without your agreement.

As for there being a charge against the property this should only be against your brothers share (if he is the person the restriction has been placed against) and you and your father would have received letters from the Land Registry individually addressed notifying you of this. This does not prevent onward sale but you do need to have a solicitor who understands this particular rule for sales purposes. Any money raised from the sale of his share would have to pay back the creditor who got the charging order first.

If Santander sell you will probably only get 70% of the market value.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Doesn't make any sense to me either.

Santander didn't mention any compulsory purchase to either me or my dad.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Compulsory purchases are not the same as charging orders. To get the money they would have to go BACK to court to force the sale and would have to have a valid reason for the judge to grant the order for forced sale. The fact your dad is in receipt of SMI which is being paid towards the mortgage interest does hold things up somewhat.

Charging orders are somewhat convoluted when there is more than one person with an interest in the property which is why you need a specialist conveyancing solicitor to sell/purchase any property with a charging order restriction.

You can check details of any charging order on line with the Land Registry at a cost of between £4 & £8 (depending on the transaction). May well be worth checking this for yourself to be certain.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Ah awesome, thanks Angua, I'll do that.

---------- Post added at 13:42 ---------- Previous post was at 13:39 ----------

Question, would I need to order the title plan? or title register?

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Title register I would expect. The plan is just a basic drawing of where your property is in an area.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Nothing obvious on the title deeds.

There's 4 charges on the "charges register" section, all look normal.

One is about a transfer in 1938, the second is a "Registered charge" (when we bought the place in 2005)

The latest entry on the Charges Register says:

18.02.1010 Proprietor: Santander UK PLC (co regn no xxx) of deeds services (address)

The rest just lists the names on the title (three names, the price paid and date)

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Adam, the letter is just a pile of guff designed to scare you into doing what he wants. You can safely ignore it and continue to do what's necessary to protect your own interests.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Well he returned the next night (6th), took his duvet and his cat with him and hasn't been back since.

Wouldn't surprise me if he's run away, so to speak.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Quick change all the locks before his partners brother,uncles and cousins all turn up with his keys and move in.I'm being very serious about this.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

....would that be possible?

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Well what ever Chris says about that letter being guff it doesn't mean that they don't think they can do it..Plus I'm not sure what can happen if someone hands over a key to another party and gives them permission to move in..

Just be very cautious about leaving the house empty because your uncle strikes me as the sort who would do something really stupid like that.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Haha, yea, isn't that the truth?

Seems a little odd that we haven't heard from his "Partner" and her relative

Also seems odd he's been gone for several days and he didn't take any toiletries with him, so I'm wondering if he has ..."done a runner".

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

I think you are supposed to go and look for him and persuade him on bended knee to return..

He'll turn up like a bad penny when it suits him..

In the meantime I'd get some advice,change the locks and clear/fumigate his room.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Eh, I wouldn't want to risk it to be honest

Given that he's still on both the house deeds and mortgage, blocking him access to the house would only make the situation worse.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Yes but cleaning his room is not going to cause any legal problems is it.?You can always claim you thought there were mice in his room.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

It might make him more irascible, but in the highly unlikely that he took you to court over it, you would be able to say you had reasonable concerns that he was about to let these other people move in and acted to safeguard your interests.

But he won't go to court, will he?

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

I'd certainly be tempted.;)

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Yes, he would and he would break a window/door to get in if we locked him out.
That's why I won't do it.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

A guy wearing a nifty (heh) pink hat came to our front door today, was trying to stuff a small handwritten note through the door.

My dad noticed the uncle's car parked two doors down, with the uncle sitting in the driver seat.

The guy went back and got in the passenger seat and they drove off. (Sad eh?)

The note said his partner and brother in law were coming to our house tonight at 4:30 to discuss the mortgage, on the condition we don't rant/rave at them (We don't do either, it's he, who does the ranting/raving)

So I guess we'll see how this goes hehe

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

I don't suppose you could lay your hands on some recording equipment before they arrive? I lay odds on whatever you and your Father say being misquoted and distorted.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Many mobiles have a memo/recording feature :D

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Yes, we have two mp3 players with recording ability.

We plan on using them.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Looks like a no show, oh well.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Managed to get an appointment with our councils Senior Housing Adviser for the governments mortgage rescue scheme.

Although the government is phasing the scheme out and there aren't many places left, so, keep your fingers crossed for us! :P

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Well, we've found out where he's moved to, it's one of his partner's houses in the same town.

Should we start sending his mail back to the senders saying he's moved out (With the correct address?)

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

I would be wary of doing that as you lay yourself open to your Uncle claiming you are interfering with his mail. You could "cough" have "him" redirect his mail directly to the new address so that it doesn't come to your house at all.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Ahh ok :)

We're going to mark them as royal mail suggested (Not known at this address) and put it back in the postboxes.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

I'm not sure if I would do any redirecting unless your uncle has told you what his new address is, or has confirmed that he's moved out. Even by returning the mail, you're saying that as far as you're concerned your uncle doesn't live there anymore. I'm not sure if that's wise when he's still on the deeds, and could decide to move back in. Returning/redirecting mail might bite you later if he decides to claim you kicked him out.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Good point(S).
Thanks for the information.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Looks like it's to late, had a letter today saying it's been passed onto their litigation department.

Ah well.

Re: Need some housing advice.
 

Thread closed at the request of the OP.