Hi

I wonder if anybody can help with what appears to be a desperate situation, “I know this is going to quiet a long winded affair but I’d like to explain the situation from the start”. I’m writing on behalf of my partner and the current situation she is going through. Some four years ago her previous partner walked out of there home which they jointly owned. She intern went to stay at her parent’s house until he moved out about a month later. He cancelled his direct debit mandate paying the mortgage and removed all of the belongings from the house whilst she was at her parents, totally stripping it in the process.” He actually removed a downstairs wall leaving a huge hole in the ceiling and the entrance hall floor, was now three levels” She then returned with there young son after he had left. The first my partner new of the direct debit being cancelled was when the bank got in touch with her about payments. He also placed the property on the market without saying a thing to her, suddenly one day unannounced the estate agent opened the front door with a couple who were interested in the property. The estate agent was asked kindly to leave and to hand the keys back at which point he refused saying he had been instructed by her ex to sell the property. She reminded him of the fact that she was also the owner and would be taking the property of the market, which the estate agent reluctantly agreed to.

In the meantime my partner started the legal process of having his name removed from the mortgage, she consulted with a solicitor and they intern pursued this action as well trying to claim back the proceeds of half the property he took from the house, Unfortunately her ex, by now had left the country and moved to Germany. Nobody knew about this and they tried all avenues to locate and serve the papers on him. From what I understand they have to pursue all avenues of trying to locate him before taking the case to court and with this failing they were ready to commence the court process. Then suddenly out of the blue some two years later she received a letter from a trustee in bankruptcy M H Abdulali working for PKF informing her that he had been declared bankrupt in Stoke on Trent county court and that trustee now held half of the equity in the property. She intern took this letter to her solicitors and they started to deal with it, the trustee requested she have a valuation done on the property to determine what equity was held within the property, which was done, she had three valuations done and they came back at between £24,000 and £26,000. With the outstanding mortgage of £20,000 this left a maximum of £6,000 equity. She then consulted with her solicitor and agreed that they make an offer of £2,000 to purchase his half of the property. The trustee turned this down in the first instance and said he wasn’t happy with the valuations carried out. “He wanted another valuation” doing by the people who originally had the house on the market. My partner reluctantly agreed to this, the valuer then came out to value the property; it was the same guy who tried to sell the property for her ex at the beginning of this saga. Terry Oxley from Whitegates placed a value of £36,950 on the property way above the current market value at the time. “Maybe revenge as he knew what the valuation was for and it would be his chance to get back at her for pulling the property sale from under his nose”

The Trustee then wrote back and said he wouldn’t accept anything less than £6,500 which my partner and her solicitor agreed was way to much. The ball went back and forwards for some time and eventually it was agreed with the trustee’s colleague that they would meet more or less in the middle. My partner consulted with her solicitor and made an offer of around about the £4’000 mark. Which Paul Booth the trustee’s colleague was happy with. All of a sudden everything went quiet and she didn’t here a thing for some time. “Two years to be precise”

She then made an offer of £4,000 to the trustee a couple of months ago after being in the position to arrange a remortgage on the house so she could raise the funds; he or his colleague then subsequently turned this down and requested another valuation. She said she had already agreed with a colleague of the trustee about the £4000,00 offer and had arranged a remortgage on this proviso. She was then told the colleague no longer worked for the company and the deal no longer stood. She sent her valuation in which was done by a chartered surveyor for the mortgage company, he valued it at £36,000 by which time the mortgage had gone down to £19,000 leaving equity of £17,000. We once again offered £4,000 for the purchase of the equity. We came to this figure by splitting the equity in half which left £8,500 minus what my partner has been paying on the mortgage for the last 55 months at £134,00, this works out to £7370,00 divided by 2 which is £3685,00. We then took the figure off the equity and deducted the £3685,00 from the £8,500 leaving £4815,00. Not including any maintenance or repairs to the property which was left in a horrendous condition when her ex partner left. I personally had a new bathroom suit fitted which involved major internal work, a new double glazed front door fitted, refitted the kitchen and had a new floor put down in the entrance lobby.

She was then told by a colleague of the trustee Howard Jones dealing with our case that they had two weeks previously been given a valuation for £55,000, from the same guy who yes, tried to sell the house and who had valued it previously. She pushed the fact that nobody had been in the house to value it other than the valuer she had in previously on her behalf, where at which point the colleague of the trustee said “quote” he did a drive by valuation “unquote” She lives in a corner terrace and the only thing viewable from the road is the front door. She was not happy about this to say the least as now they demanded £18,000. She complained to her solicitor who intern complained to the trustee or rather his colleague arguing the fact that how could someone value a property when he hadn’t been inside it. The trustee’s colleague then said “quote” he was in it a few years ago, so the valuer should know what it’s like” “unquote” in the meantime the house had major work done on it at my expense and had completely changed within those two years.

The colleague of the trustee then said his valuation stood, She asked for a copy of his valuation through her solicitor and he asked for a copy of here valuation which was sent off as soon as it was requested. She also argued the fact that the guy who gave them the valuation was not a chartered surveyor but a sale’s man from the estate agents and was not qualified to value the property. She then contacted the valuer and he confirmed he was not a chartered surveyor. To date she is still waiting for his copy of the valuation.

She was then asked all of a sudden by the trustee to have a joint valuation done by a chartered surveyor for some reason, which she has had done. This came back at £44,000. Minus the £19,000 owing on the mortgage, leaving equity of £25,000. At which point she has now offered £7500,00 in full and final settlement. The trustee has declined this offer and is now demanding payment of £12,504,00 exactly half the equity within 28 days or he will commence possession proceedings, he has also stated that they will market the property with the guy who has been giving them all these high valuations.

He hasn’t taken into account the fact that she has been paying the mortgage for the last 55 months and should be due half of her payments back for this, nor has he taken into account the work done to the property in the meantime. The new front door, bathroom suit, kitchen and lobby floor.

She is now at the end of her tether and is contemplating stopping payments and foreclosing on the mortgage. I have spoken to the trustee’s colleague about what she should be due back, apparently they use some sort of scale to work out what is due back for the mortgage payments she has made. Does anybody know what this scale is..????

Do I have any claim to the money I have invested in the house, and if so can I remove my property….?????

Can we claim back from the trustee the £1000,00 we are going to loose by cancelling the new remortgage, which was set up on the proviso that an agreement had already been reached previously…???

Can the trustee be prosecuted for making a fraudulent claim that, he had a valuation for £55,000 on the property when in fact he didn’t. This would have driven the price up and would have directly benefited his company if it wasn’t questioned by her and the sale proceeded. She is still waiting for this valuation to be sent back although we know it doesn’t exist….??????

I know this is a long posting and if anybody is still awake after reading this any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jonathan Vincent on behalf of Trudi Wildish.

-- jonathan Vincent (john.vincent@quista.net), October 27, 2002

Answers

I'm still awake and stunned at the apparently total incompetence of your partner's solicitor.I'm sorry, but if the husband went bankrupt way back when and your partner had an offer in to the trustee, the trustee has a duty to accept a "reasonable" amount in satisfaction of the bankrupts debts. At that time, at the figure your partner's solicitor agreed with the trustee, that duty was served. Where is the paperwork? If there is none related to this original offer(and there would be,I've been there) there are some serious questions to be asked of your partner's solicitor. If there is paperwork, why wasn't the deal followed up for two years?!!! If you have proof of the trustee accepting the offer, then it has to be completed at the original amount.

Your figurework on the current values is flawed unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Your partner is jointly and severally liable for the mortgage and the property secured against it (i.e.the asset of the house) so it doesn't matter who was paying the mortgage for the last 55 months, she will not get "credit" for it in that way. All she's done is increase the value of a property she only had a half interest in when the trustee stepped into the picture. Why didn't she secure her ownership all this time? Even if your partner wasn't familiar with the implications of doing nothing her solicitor would have been. I would suggest that her solicitor's actions need to be looked at immediately. You've lost the remortgage fee money, that is not the fault of the trustee, even with all the muddy water here. There is no way a remortgage should even have been contemplated without the title to the house being solely in your partner's name, or both your names after the transfer of equity. Whatever you have personally put into the house up to this point is irrelevant. You have no claim on the property. What a mess, I am sorry!

-- Too scared to say (iwasduped@yahoo.com), October 27, 2002.

I have just spoken to a solicitor who inturn has said that trudi is actually entitled to more that 50% due to the fact that her partner renegaded upon his contract with the mortgage company when he cancelled his direct debit some 4.5 years ago " something to do with some new act " and that her interest is actually worth more. the solicitor also said she is entitled to at least half her payments back since her partner left the property due to the fact that the mortgage contract would have been terminated if she did'nt take over the payments. and that she is entitled to payment for the upkeep and maintenance of the property. this is something the trustee has also agreed to but said he had to work out the back payments according to this so called scale. The solicitor said there would,nt be any equity after the mortgage company repossed the house. She also said that we must first thing tommorow morning apply to the courts for a declaration of trust under the land act of 1997, as trudi's share is now more than 50% of the property value considiering he left 4.5 years ago. After this declaration of trust has been applied for we can notify the trustee and take him to court based on the fact that he is no prepared to negotiate the settlement. The solicitors exact words were, when you tell the trustee you have a declaration of trust order under the 1997 land act, you will find he will back down straight away. "hope this is true" and negotiate a settlement. Oh finally, because I have money tied up in the house in various ways like the bathroom, door , kitchen I am quiet within my rights to remove my property from the house....!!!! I am not considered a party to the contract on the house...hey I lent her the stuff until she could replace it with her own. I think we would have it revalued after i remove my belongings....to see what equity was in the house....

will keep everyone updated

-- john (john.vincent@quista.net), October 27, 2002.

John,

You must "register" your interest in the property (this is the value of all the work that you have personally paid for) I'm not quite sure how this is done but your solicitor should be able to help you on tha. Once you have registered your interest then the whole thing takes on a different legal complexion, as you now have "equity" in the property as well as your partner and her ex ! you will then have a leg to stand on when you force her ex to accept what he was offered 4 years ago. Hes obviously using the increase in house prices to get more cash ! What a bastard, I hope you kick him in the @### !!! Good Luck

-- John (sharky_john@hotmail.com), October 27, 2002.

Well I truly wish you all the luck in the world. I got similar advice from my original solicitor (with the exception of the element of your interest in the f&f, which you *really* cannot remove, he is wrong about that).I had paid 60% of the mortgage since it's inception as the major income earner, I had bank statements etc to prove it. My ex defaulted in the same way, left the home,cancelled the d/d and never again paid a single penny. He also went bankrupt, primarily to avoid the CSA but also the shortfall which then accumulated due to the repossession. I could not stop it - even though I could prove that I could (just) manage the mortgage on my own.I failed to get back my "proportion" of the payments I had made, along with nearly 15K I was owed for other things, and I also registered an interest with the Trustee as soon as I discovered my ex had filed for bankruptcy. It got me nowhere. This was over 11 years ago. Perhaps the procedure and therefore the chances of success in these types of actions has improved since them. I sincerely hope so and wish you well in your endeavours.

-- Too scared to say (iwasduped@yahoo.com), October 27, 2002.