do i make an offer

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i am at the stage of waiting for a hearing on halifax shortfall claim , i have filled out the claim form that the property was undersold( sold for £48000 as opposed to average of £54000,mortgage was for £50000 and shortfall claim is for £8000) i have not sarned them but i have found that the two valuations were from agents associated with Halifax. I am confident they have undersold but do i wait for the hearing or make them a small offer of full and final settlement in the meantime as i have said i would like to try and settle as indicated on the allocation questionaire.

-- jonathan king (kingy@ltblake.fsnet.co.uk), October 01, 2003

Answers

You might in your own opinion backed up by the two valuations think that the property was undersold, but all the lender in possession is under a duty to do is obtain the best price available at the time from prospective buyers. They can prove they have exercised that duty by proving adverts and putting a notice in the paper that they have had an offer of £x and any higher offers to reach them by Y date.

Methinks make an offer well before the court hearing - if accepted, you at least will not then be landed with some possibly hefty court costs.

I cannot guide you, but I have known offers of 10% and 20% of the shortfall be accepted. Try - you never know!!!

-- David J. Button (davidjohnbutton@supanet.com), October 02, 2003.


you might want to consider checking the records at the Land Registry to see if any identical houses were sold around the same time in the same street/area. They will be able to give you a list of properties by postcode and what they sold for! It's a shot in the dark but you never know!

M

-- m. (Anderston828@aol.com), October 02, 2003.


Jonathan I tend to agree with David.

If the lender has supplied proof of marketing then they have evidence of attempts to mitigate their loss.

If Halifax have not supplied such items then you have an argument if they have supplied then the only other possibility is how long the property took to sell. If Halifax agreed to the first offer made and this was within a month or so of the property being up for sale you have a good point otherwise you may find a nasty judgement for £8,000 being registered.

It is a shame that you have not issued a SARN and checked their evidence I would ask for strict proof within the court process.

If you have something to loose from a judgement then really you should try and settle this at the 'court gates'

The fact that the two valuations are from agents associated with your lender does not hold any weight unless you have proof of corruption.

Good luck

-- fairer financial world (fairerfinancialworld@hotmail.com), October 04, 2003.


Dont whatever you do let this go to court when you could potentially get out of this for £800 or so!! Try offering them 10% without prejudice and see how you get on.

-- neil (neilawuk@yahoo.co.uk), October 06, 2003.

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