voluntary repo tenanted property

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Repossession : One Thread

I saw a brief mention on the site that you cannot hand the keys in for voluntary repossession if the property is tenanted. Is this still the case?

The property has been tenanted for 8 yrs but current tenants have not paid rent for 14 weeks. I have just applied to evict them, but the court clerk told me this will take at least another 12 weeks to get them out.

I am living on benefits and cannot pay the mortgage. Have told the lender about the tenants, but they just tell me to pay up. Now want to give it up to voluntary repossession as advised on the site to keep it out of the Courts.

Any advice please?

HB

-- Helena Bailey (happy.girlie@zoom.co.uk), January 09, 2001

Answers

If you are on benefits then you may be legible for assistance towards your mortgage payments from the DSS, contact your local benefits agency to see if you qualify.

-- Jo (chrisbrad@zoom.co.uk), January 10, 2001.

I personally think you should voluntarily surrender the property to the lender if you are on benefits and have little chance of finding a job that will enable you to pay off arrears and the mortgage in the long term.

If you do want to surrender it (voluntary repossession), put the keys in the post to the lender with a note explaining that the property is occupied by squatters. They may choose to describe themselves as tenants but no lender will care very much how they came to be there so their existence isn't your issue. Personally I think you owe the lender the politeness of warning them that the place is occupied but how you choose to describe non-rent paying occupants is up to you.

Lee

-- Lee (repossession@bigfoot.com), January 11, 2001.


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