Hi All,

Can someone please give me some advice?

I bought a house in 1994 in what was a very nice and new housing estate.

Anyway I paid my endowment mortgage interest until I went to Australia to live in 1999. I rented out the house and all was well.

Anyway, my tenant stopped paying the mortgage and b4 I knew much about it I was nearly £2000 in arrears. I had to come home from Australia to sort out the mess.

When i got home my tenant had trashed the place, removing all fittings, carpets and generally left the house ruined. She even took the gas fitting for the cooker leaving gas pour into the property.

The Police couldn't do anything.

I couldn't pay the arrears on the house, so I had to have it re-possesed. Halifax were not going to wait.

I found recently that the house was sold at auction. I don't know how much for.

Anyway I now have a debt collection company chasing me for over £19,000.

I certainly can't afford to pay it. Even if I paid them £20 per week with no interest, it would take nearly 20 years to pay them off.

I am working at the moment, but as I have to pay rent I don't have a lot left to live on at the end of the month.

I know the Halifax won't let it go but what are the implications for me. Can they take money from my wages automatically?

I can't go bankrupt because I will automatically lose my job (in my contract).

Can they send me to prison?

I am thinking of moving abroad, but some posts in here show that they still find you.

Any advice would be very helpful. It may even let me have a decent nights sleep.

Thanx

KJ

-- Kevin Yeates (kevin@brodieabe.freeserve.co.uk), January 21, 2001

Answers

Best advice we can give you is to read tis site thoroughly, especially the Repossession section. Also, the "Can they chase me abroad" question has come up a couple of times on this Q&A board. The last time was about three weeks ago as I recall.

Lee

-- Lee (repossession@bigfoot.com), January 22, 2001.

dear kevin, i am in a smiliar position to you and i can fully understand what you are going thorough. do you think it was worth handing in the keys as i am certain that abbey national will not wait for me to sell the house and i can not cope with any more tenants- from-hell... keep your spirits up

-- rakesh (r2sabbarwal@yahoo.co.uk), May 05, 2001.

First step: Don't panic.

Having been there, I remember how flustered I felt when the Halifax first contacted us.

Second step : Read the site...read everything under repossession first and make notes as you go along. The do's and don'ts is excellent.

Third step: SARN your lender.

Fourth Step: Reply politely to your lender and simply ask for a completion statement (if you haven't already got one) or say that you are looking into the matter (if you have got one) and will reply shortly.

DO NOT FILL IN AN INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FORM....

If you read this site and get help from people on the site you will soon get on top of things.

Be strong.

-- (_Believer14@excite.co.uk), May 06, 2001.