Rose,(posted 7740 days ago)I'm afraid there are a couple of points which you don't appear to be aware of. Firstly, The CML voluntary 6 year code states:
'In addition, from 11 February 2000, lenders who are members of the Council of Mortgage Lenders have agreed voluntarily that they will begin all recovery action for the shortfall within the first six years following the sale of a property in possession. Anyone whose property was taken into possession and sold more than six years ago, and who has not been contacted by their lender about recovering any outstanding debt will not now be asked to pay the shortfall. The Association of British Insurers supports this approach on behalf of the mortgage indemnity insurers.'
It is 6 years from the date of SALE. Furthermore, they say:
'Following the sale of a property in possession, lenders often find it difficult to contact the former borrower to advise them of any surplus monies or shortfall debt. Lenders use a variety of measures to identify where the individual is now living. This might include using tracing agents. Situations can arise where a lender or its third party agent is trying to contact the individual (for example, by letter or telephone) to discuss repayment of the shortfall, but the individual simply chooses to ignore such contact. This is despite the fact that the contact is being made at the individual's new address. In these cases, lenders will consider that contact has been made for the purposes of the new six year limit. If an individual is unclear whether contact has been made within the six year period, the lender will be able to confirm the position.'
If contact has been made or considered to have been made then they will have 12 years under the Limitation Act 1980 to chase you, and if they have taken out a Money Judgment Order they can pursue you indefinitely (in theory). Make sure you read the Home Repo Site thoroughly and previous postings on this site. You may be able to find out through Land Registry when they sold your property, but I'm not sure of this, perhaps someone else can confirm this point.
Read the Council of Mortgage Lenser's site info on: 'http://www.cml.org.uk/servlet/dycon/zt- cml/cml/live/en/cml/pub_info_dept'
It's a difficult position, as far as I see it, you can either contact the lender and try and negotiate a full and final settlement, or ignore them. A number of lender's have been accepting between 5-10% of the total shortfall amount. The danger is, as I understand it, (if you have bought a new property) they could go to court and ask for a Charging Order and force the sale of your new property to recuperate their money. I'm not a professional adviser so please check this out with one. I'm sorry I can't give you better news. Good Luck.
Mark.