HELP AND ADVICE AFTER REPOSSESSION 5 years on

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Hi, i have been searching around on the internet trying to find information. In 1987 i was a single parent living in a council house unemployed on benefits, i met my ex-partner a year later and he moved in with me. My ex was working and decided it would be a good idea to buy the council house. As the home was rented in my name, my ex was unable to buy the house, so therefore even though i had no income he could be a guarantor. (The house was in my name and he was the guarantor). To cut a long story short the house was purchased in 1990. We got engaged had a child, so now i had two children. After many years the relationship broke down and he had many debts, i had a part time job at this time. He left me and stopped paying everything. Due to distress i stopped my part time job and applied for benefits. The benefit money did not cover all of the mortgage, so therefore the house was repossessedin 1997. After the court hearing i received a letter to say there were no costs and i continued with my life, I moved back with my mother, and now have since got married to a lovely man. Yesterday out of the blue i got a letter addressed to me,at my mums house, not my current address, from a recovery debt dept asking for £11,890 i nearly fainted with shock because i knew nothing about this till now. They say after the house was repossed they sold it for a cheap price and including solicitors bills there was a shortfall. They say in the letter, we understand that you cannot pay all this money at once and they enclosed forms to fill in to do with my earnings etc. There is no mention of my ex the guarantor. I am a house wife at the moment, i am stressed out. My ex has not even paid maintenance, the csa say they cant find him. Is my ex responsible for this debt he was guarantor? Can the debtors recover the debt from my husband? Please help if you can.

-- anom (jandn.dielehner@ntlworld.com), August 17, 2002

Answers

Your ex is jointly responsible with you as a guarantor - but they've found you and its unlikely they will chase him, if they follow the usual pattern. (The CSA must be pretty dim if they can't find him, all it takes is a trace on his NI number if he is employed, they and they alone are allowed to do that). He may also have made a payment in full and final settlement, and they are after you for the rest. Follow the advice on this site, but first check to see if the shortfall is not actually out of time. I would suspect the Lender will have made contact within the (voluntary)time limits though. With the greatest respect intended, so many ex council houses were repossessed in the nineties, the Lender will probably settle for a fraction of the shortfall and go away. Thank you Margaret Thatcher.

-- Too scared to say (iwasduped@yahoo.com), August 17, 2002.

I received another letter. they want me to tell them how much my present partner and i earn can they do this.

I am now married, will they chase payment from my husband for debts that had nothing to do with him. I am not working at the moment but he is.

-- anom (jandn.dielehner@ntlworld.com), August 24, 2002.


I posted an answer to this above.

-- Too scared to say (iwasduped@yahoo.com), August 24, 2002.

Going down to citizens advice bureau tommorow, When i got this mortgage i was told that a guarantor would be responsible for payment of mortgage, typical that it was my ex - boyfriend, who got me to sign this agreement in the first place, when i wasnt working had no income, he was self employed yet, he was the one who abandaned the home and therefore he is the one who broke the agreement, and all through this repossesion, left with all the bills and all of the debt its an unfair life.

-- anom (jandn.dielehner@ntlworld.com), August 26, 2002.

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