I own my house.My ex partner lives in the house with my 5 yearold son My ex partner drove me from my house and demanded that I sell it and give her half the equity. This I agreed to. She also set the child support agency on me. They deduct £87.00 from my wages weekly. I pay the mortgage on my house approx £500.00 per month.The CSA do not count as a contribution towards my sons welfare.My house is now sold but my ex partner is now refusing to move.I have agreed to give her half the equity £10000.I can no longer afford to pay the mortgage.she thinks i will just continue to pay but i have nothing left. What can I do ? what will be the consequences of repossession for me? i am really worried about this

-- Patrick Wilson (slanleat@btinternet.com), March 21, 2001

Answers

Hi Patrick,

Are you able to clarify a few points here, to enable poeple to help you better? For example, if the house is now sold, why are you still expected to be paying a mortgage on it? It would really help if you could explain the details.

-- Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), March 28, 2001.

Patrick,

Thanks for your private e-mail. Unfortunately this is all way beyond my capabilities, and all I can honestly say is that, if it were me, I'd look for a solicitor who was prepared to pull his or her finger out. Your problem is serious but by no means unique.

You came to this Q&A board and asked originally about the consequences of Repossession. If you have look at the 'Repossession' section of this site, you will get a good idea. If you don't have significant arrears, you need to work out how much equity (or not) you have in the house. The problem with repossession is that, as many of us have found out to our cost, some lenders don't bother to market the property properly and sell at a very low price. They then come after the ex borrower for the 'shortfall' - and they claim that they have up to 12 years to do this. The ex borrower does have some legal protection [theoretically] from this kind of behaviour, but it's often a long, stressful battle to come to some sort of resolution with the (often unreasonable) lender involved.

If the worst comes to the worst and the house *is* repossessed, you must keep proper records of what happens to it, especially regarding valuation, marketing and sale. Keep all documents, and demand that the lender keeps all originals which you may want to see, should you decide to try to reach a settlement figure with the lender.

Your story also brings it home that so very many repossessions (and the problems which precede repossession) stem from relationship breakdown. It's all a double whammy, really.

all the best, and good luck,

-- Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), March 31, 2001.

Patrick,

I want to echo what Eleanor has said: I went thru very similar stuff, including the divorce etc etc.

You MUST talk to a solicitor (and I almost never use capitals).

Good Luck

-- Andy Turner (andy.turner@ramesys.com), April 02, 2001.