Solicitors for Abbey National chasing £23,032 outstanding mortgage balance!greenspun.com : LUSENET : Repossession : One Thread |
My Partner quit her house & moved in with me 3 years ago. The house was subject to compulsary purchase at the time though no figure had been put forward. The house was co-owned by my partners ex husband. Now 3 years later we have received a letter from DLA solicitors acting for the Abbey National, asking my partner to contact them within 7 days & provide details on an Income & Expenditure sheet. The debt they are chasing is for £23,032. The house was resold for £6,750. I am not working and my partner receives Working Family Tax Credit for 2 children & works 30 hrs a week. In the letter DLA appologises for the substantial delay since the sale of the property. We are very worried that we could be saddled with repayments we can't afford. Does my partner a case under the Human Rights act due to the length of time that it has taken DLA to contact my partner? Would it be best just to go to court?
-- Mark Thomson (mark_comynthomson@hotmail.com), July 19, 2001
"The house was subject to compulsary purchase at the time though no figure had been put forward"Sorry, can you say a bit more about this? Not quite understanding this detail.
-- E Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), July 20, 2001.
Sorry...I probably didn't explain that too well. My partner lived in a house with her former husband for 9 years. The mortgage was in joint names. He left her and she stayed on in the house, she was on income support and the interest on the mortgage was paid. At that time the area she lived in was going to be redeveloped by the local council & all the houses were going to be compulsarilly (I'm not sure that word exists) purchased, my partner never entered into negotiations with the council about this. She moved in with me about 3 years ago & quit the house. She did not tell the lenders (Abbey National) her new address. The house was repossessed and it was sold in May 1999. She has since reverted to her maiden name, so it came as a shock when we received the letter from DLA addressed to her in her new name. We do not know how they got our address or her new name. DLA are saying that the debt is her responsibility, but have said that if we reach an agreement soon she may be subject to a 50% discount. They also enclosed a statement of Abbey Nationals policey of treating people in this situation fairly, though it looks a bit ambiguous to me. We do not know if they have tracked down her ex husband (who has a well paid job) They want her to complete an I & E form and contact them within 7 days. We have not done this yet & don't intend to do so until we get some good advice. As I mentioned in the first mail, I don't work and my partner works 30 hrs a week & receives Working Family Tax Credit for 2 children. We desperately need advice! Sorry if the first mail was confusing.
-- Mark Thomson (mark_comynthomson@hotmail.com), July 21, 2001.
I still don't understand some of this. If the house was comp- purchased, how come it was repossessed and sold?Other than that, get some legal advice. You should get legal aid given your income. I would advocate NOT completing the form. The reasons are outlined elsewhere on the site but in essence, they use the form to work out how much cash they can screw out of you. If/When you get legal advice, get your solicitor to look at the site, as this area of law is very specialised, and however nice the solicitor, unless you really strike it lucky the chances are he/she won't know much about it. We do.
Remember above all, they have no right to know about your income - only your partners.
3 years isn't a big enough delay to bring the human rights stuff in, particularly if your partner changed her name to make it difficult to find her!
Now is probably a good time to switch any savings etc into your name.
-- (bluemoon@mcfc.co.uk), July 21, 2001.