Mortgage shortfall & Ex-Wife's Bankruptcy

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

The first thing i asked him was "HAVE you signed anything"?
he swears blind that he hasnt and i do believe him, however I cannot for the life of me understand how a mortgage company (its Santander by the way) can take back a property without consulting both parties named on the joint Mortgage.

This is beginning to sound like a voluntary repossession to me due to the possible negative equity and the fact that the lender is chasing a *shortfall*. Either party can hand in the keys and I don't know what document your BF would have had to sign under those circumstances, but I don't know Scottish housing law as well as I know English housing law But I will check this out on Monday for you

Since your BF was party to the joint mortgage he has every right to contact Santander for some answers since he had a legal contract with them too and therefore there are no Data Protection Act issues. Tell him to ring them up and ask exactly what went on. He'd probably get a more accurate answer from them then he's getting from his ex-wife

If it was me I'd be sending a SAR to Santander to get the whole file and hopefully the whole story never mind what she says

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

Have a read here: http://www.lawyer.ie/property/tenancies

."

^^^^ isn't this referring to Irish housing law (Eire)

[vint1954]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

Indeed Planb, but it appears similar to uk law.

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

now my question is

If they are still legally married and it was a joint mortgage being paid from a joint bank account can she do this and is my boyfriend liable for the full mortgage shortfall??

If this mortgage was being paid from a joint bank account then your BF can check his statements to see if the money he paid into the account for this purpose was actually passed on to the lender. If not then that raises a new issue.

You've not said whether your boyfriend has divorced his wife because if not then that may raise another issue. If he has divorced her then the terms of that divorce settlement could be relevant.

I'm sorry he's feeling so upset about all this. Maybe that signals that he's a really nice guy who trusted his ex-wife to do the right thing and when she didn't he naturally feels gutted

She probably didn't tell the children what was happening in too much detail to protect their feelings too. If the household was facing repossession (and that's not clear yet) it may have been better to do a deal with the lender then let the children suffer the trauma of eviction by bailiffs.

Let's do the background research first and then form a battle plan

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

Indeed Planb, but it appears similar to uk law.

Similar but different.

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

Sorry to point this out but Ex's (especially women) tend to be the worst at being honest about things to their ex partner.

I didn't wait to be an ex-wife for the dishonesty to start

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

Was she paying her half of the mortgage?
Was she paying in the money your BF was sending or was she just spending it on other things?

..

I agree with you Mrs D. That was my instinctive reaction

[The Tech Clerk]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

More honest some people are the more they get trod on, that is the way it seems to go, sorry to hear this case.

couple of times I have been too honest for my own good in the past ans paid dearly as I expect a lot of people have on here.

Hope you get help on this one = good luck.

[The Tech Clerk]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

I didn't wait to be an ex-wife for the dishonesty to start

I got caught out as an ex husband and paid dearly to get things finally sorted.

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

I would be nclined to obtain a copy of the signed document handing the house back as a first action. See what that says first.

There is no harm letting Santander know that you think there is something wrong or fraudulent, without involing the Police, athough Santander may do so at some point.

See who has signed the documents, then take it from there.

What signed document would there have been needed especially if the mortgage was in default as seems to have been the case There's clearly £50k still owed to the bank so how could anyone have defrauded anyone if no money was handed over Mags' BF hasn't lost any money he's only inherited a debt which he seems to have been 100% liable for in the first place.

As far as I'm aware fraud is a criminal offence where the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) would have to prove that the defendant deliberately misrepresented a situation in order to obtain money from a party by deception. I'm not sure that this may be what has happened in this case

Perhaps involving the police at this stage may be premature until the all the facts are known. There are also financial (and sometimes custodial) penalties for wasting police time

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

That then begs the question, was the document to transfer back to the BS fraudulently signed by the ex.

That would obviously be a matter for the police and ccould prove useful if they did not check carefully enough.

Perhaps your BF should request a copy of the document transferring the property back to the BS, so he can check the signatures.

I'm not sure what you are suggesting here

Mags needs clarity on this situation (of a possible voluntary repossession) from her BF before there can be any accusation or allegation of fraud or any other illegal financial activity

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

My Boyfriend of 2 years had split from his wife 3 and a bit years ago and when this happened his wife and children stayed in the mortgaged home that they had, now unknown to him about 6-7 months ago she handed the house back to the mortgage company without telling him, we came home yesterday to a letter from a lawyer to say that my boyfriend is liable for the whole entire mortgage shortfall of £50k

. . . . . If they are still legally married and it was a joint mortgage being paid from a joint bank account can she do this

.

If the mortgage was getting into arrears (hence the £50k shortfall) then it's possible that the lender was on the brink of issuing possession proceedings (or already had) and all the letters and/or court papers would have been sent to the house where she was living and not to your BF so he would not have known. Scottish law on repossessions is here:

http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_a...s_and_partners

Is it possible that your BF never told the lender he had left the property since the mortgage was being paid (or not) from a joint account which means they would not have known unless he specifically told them?

He may be able to make a claim off her (if she hasn't gone BR) if he can prove that the money he paid into the joint account was specifically for mortgage payments and not a general sum as maintenance for his children. What baffles me about this story is that if she and the children moved 7 months ago how come he didn't know that or do they only communicate by phone

If it was me I would check out her current financial situation and see whether she is now living with someone else or has an income of her own etc

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

Here is some basic information on going BR in Scotland

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/sc...=01_bankruptcy

Also if your BF does have to pay this shortfall he can always make a F & F offer to the lender to cover his 50% in return for being released from any further liabilty for the debt Apparently in Scottish law his ex-wife can be pursued for up to 20 years for the outstanding balance Obviously if she has genuinely gone BR that won't happen.


http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_a...ortgage_debt#2

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

If your BF wants to search the registry to check if his ex-wife has genuinely gone BR then he can do this free online here:

http://roi.aib.gov.uk/roi/

[PriorityOne]

Re: Mortgage & Bankruptcy

It seems odd that your BF has received a letter to his home address informing him of a shortfall, yet no other correspondence managed to find its way there while the repossession/sale was happening. This suggests that the ex may have furnished them with his contact details.

If it was me, I'd be sending a SAR to the mortgage company to find out what's been going on for all this time.... because if your BF didn't notify Santander of a change of address himself when he left the house, they wouldn't have had any way of notifying him of anything.