we had a property taken 5 years ago and have been threatened and chased by direct legal collections for three years. They are now threatening to issue a statutory demand for the shortfall of 45000 although to the best of my knowledge there has been no court hearing since repo. Has anybody any advice on whether this can be done and what the best response would be? thanks.

-- kevin dutch (kevind28@excite.com), November 02, 2000

Answers

Hi Kevin,

First of all you will need to supply more information for anyone to be able to help you. The name of the lender is most important. You will find that other mortgage shortfall victims will try to help you.

In the meantime I would suggest that you thoroughly read all this site to get an idea of what you are up against. It's full of info to help you.

Regards,

-- Tony Hayter (Tony@Hayter.com), November 02, 2000.

Threatening to issue a statutory demand is basically threatening to make you bankrupt.

The creditor first demands the money via the Statutory Demand, and this demands says that you must pay up within 21 days of issue.

You do get the chance to oppose the demand, and this needs to be done through the court, as with any other summons.

If you do not respond to the demand, the creditor can issue a BCreditors Petition FormB which says that you cannot pay the debt and there is no possibility of you being able to pay.

The court then fixes a hearing date to decide whether or not to make you bankrupt.

Claims for more than B#25,000 are heard in the High Court, and you only have to owe a creditor (or combination of creditors) B#750 for them to start such proceedings.

From what I have been able to find out, a Statutory Demand can be issued either before or after judgement, so it would appear that the fact that youBve not yet been to court doesnBt matter.

Statutory Demands are usually only issued when the debt in question is undisputed. If it backfires, then the creditor can end up paying the debtors costs.

Make sure that you have the completion statement from the sale of the property, and follow the advice given in this website to make sure that the amount being claimed is justified and that your property was sold at its market value.

If in the meantime you do receive a statutory demand, then you must act on it immediately. See a solicitor and get him to have the demand set aside as its disputed.

-- pendle (pendle@amun-ra.demon.co.uk), November 02, 2000.