Bad legal advice?
 

Some of you may remember an old thread on here where I was posting about my housing situation

Original thread - http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/22...ng-advice.html

My uncle moved out, and has left us with about 5k of arrears on the mortgage, as he stopped paying back in December 2010.

We arranged with him to pay us £30 a week to pay down the arrears, something he agreed to, twice

He paid the first week in cash, then sent in a check for £60 to cover the next two weeks.

My father told him he would sell his cds/dvds which are currently in our garage, if he missed a payment.

I told my father to get legal advice BEFORE doing or saying anything like that.

The uncle wrote to us last week and informed us he is no longer going to pay anything towards the arrears he's racked up and if we sell anything of his, he'll take legal action for "compensation"

So my father called up his solicitor friend who's local to us and was told he CAN sell his cds/dvds and if the uncle sues, he can countersue for the amount owing on the arrears.

I don't know, something just doesn't sit right with me on that, so I've refused to have any part in it.

Any thoughts?

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

In my opinion the solicitor friend of your Father is correct.

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

If he was my uncle I'd tell myself he won't 'sue' because he's all mouth. and then I'd tell myself to stop taking any notice of him and get on with it :)

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

Presumably, none of this has been agreed in writing?

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

The only thing from memory which is written, is the uncle wrote a note to us, saying:

To: Messrs (our names)

After consultation with my solicitor, he has advised me to withhold further £30 payments until we receive a copy of the court order and the other requested documents.
Should you attempt to sell any of my possessions we will apply to the court for compensation.

(the court order he's talking about is because my dad told him he had a "possession order" on his property in the garage)

The only other stuff that he's sent us, which is handwritten by him, was lies, saying his partner and her brother in law were going to pay off the arrears and that the mortgage company were happy with it (none of which was true)

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

Does your father have a possession order for the property? If so he can sell it with no issues. If not, then I can't blame your uncle for calling his bluff.

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

No, he doesn't and no, I can't believe he was stupid enough to not only tell him, but to send it in writing, to.

And no, I can't blame him either, but I do wish he'd kept to his agreement to pay us the £30 a week.

We'll probably have to take him to court ourselves at this rate.

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

The first thing to do in all matters especially something like this is get a SOLICITOR, and a good one.

IF a person has agreed to pay so much per week, but fails to do so, you need it in WRITING re payments etc.

If there are goods on the property, these cannot be sold to recover the debt, unless it is part of the deal, this can be regarded as theft.

You would need to go to a small claims court over certain matters, but before all that get goo legal advice or go to the C.A.B

Who ever the person is, he or she has legal rights as well, and this is where you need the advice

I have quite often given legal advice to people, BUT l always say several things. GET ANY AGREEMENT IN WRITING, AND SIGNED, AND IF ANYTHING HAS TO BE POSTED, SEND COPIES ONLY AND RECORD IT, SO THEY HAVE TO SIGN FOR, if it starts to get frosty then CAB or SOLICITOR and let them take it over, and the first thing they will say, is what is said is above.

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

Is he still legally counted as part owner of the house?

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

He is still counted as part owner of the house, he's on the mortgage and house deeds.

Which is why I think my dad is going to get in trouble, but, he's only got himself to blame, I did say to him you shouldn't do it.

Such is life, eh? heh

Thanks Arthur for the advice.

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

How exactly can he prove that those DVDs and CDs in your garage are his, does he still have receipts? ;)

Re: Bad legal advice?
 

Heh, well that'd be hard, given that there's probably in excess of 800 cd's/dvd's.