In 1987, I took out a mortgage to buy a house in West London and, in order to gain the benefit of the MIRAS tax allowance, I added my son's name to the mortgage (he was 19 at the time). I did this, however, WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE AND SIGNED THE MORTGAGE AGREEMENT ON HIS BEHALF.(posted 9077 days ago)In 1992. because of unemployment, I was forced to rent out the house to pay the mortgage and. to cut a long story short, the tenants failed to pay the motgage for some months and I got in serious arrears; I surrendered the keys.
After a letter informing me that they were selling the house (considerably under the market value) I heard nothing more from them until last year, just before my wife and I were about to emigrate to the USA. I ignored their letter, which asked for #39,000 but confessed to my son my actions some years before, assuring him that the responsibilty was mine and that he would probably not hear from them anyway (he had moved several times). I later wrote to Eversheds, the solicitors telling them that I was in the USA.
Unfortunately, my son contacted me yesterday and told me that he had received a letter, demanding the money for him.
So the questions, in order of importance are: 1. Can they pursue my son if he did not sign the mortgage agreement and was unaware of my actions? 2. Can he avoid going to Court to prove it (for example, will they ley him see the signed agreement so he can dispute the signature?) 3. Is it better for him to be pro-active and contact the Abbey National or Eversheds? (If so, who is best to contact?) 4. I thought the Statute of Limitations was such that a claim for a debt had to be served on the 'defendant' within six years; is this not so? 5. Is it any help that I disputed the proposed selling price? 6. Can they pusue me to the USA (for the forgery)? 7. If all else fails, can I intervene on my son's behalf and come to an agreement with Abbey National, where they might accept a reasonable repayment plan or perhaps a lump sum considerably less than the amount owed (say #5000) and prevent them taking my son to Court?
I would be grateful for any information or advice.