Charging Order Letter - Ex's Debt

[Austinhead]

My partner and I separated a couple of months ago and he moved out and starting renting a property (early Aug 2017)

We own a house together, with a joint mortgage, which is valued at roughly what we paid for it 10 years ago when we bought it. We agreed that I would buy him out of the house, and I would take on the mortgage and continue to live there. The Equity is roughly £20k and we agreed I would give him £8k - the value is less as i borrowed some money for some improvements a couple of years ago, and it takes into account the cost to sell.

I have now given him all this money, bit by bit, in both bank transfers and buying stuff for his place, to be delivered to him. I have yet to start the process of moving the mortgage etc over (can provide reasons for the delay if relevant)

Just over a week ago I received a letter from Land registry stating that a charging order had been applied for on the property. This is due to one of my partners debts. I think they went to court in early Sept (although my ex said he was unaware of this). I need to respond by this weekend to either object or accept. I really don't know how best to proceed. I posted on moneysavingexpert and was pointed to this site for advice.

I am not in a position to pay for face to face legal advice as he isn't currently giving me any child maintenance so things are tough financially. He totally accepts that this is solely his debt, and whilst he is very amiable and wants to sort this out, he is also a bit useless at actually getting things done, so I really don't want to rely on him.

Any advice would be very very gratefully received. I am devastated that I could lose the £8k I have given him, and have this hanging over me. I have worked very hard to sort out my debt issues, and want to put this behind me.

[Austinhead]

Re: Charging Order Letter - Ex's Debt

I didn't realise this was posted in the welcome thread. How can I move it to the appropriate forum ?

[Amethyst]

Re: Charging Order Letter - Ex's Debt

I'll move it for you xx

[Diana M]

Re: Charging Order Letter - Ex's Debt

Just over a week ago I received a letter from Land registry stating that a charging order had been applied for on the property. This is due to one of my partners debts. I think they went to court in early Sept (although my ex said he was unaware of this). I need to respond by this weekend to either object or accept.

Do you think your ex is unaware of the CCJ because the claim was served at an address he doesn't live or some other reason why he didn't get it? You say he's only been at his current rented address for a couple of months.

If he didn't receive the claim then he may have a reason to make an Application for a set-aside if there was some irregularity with the service.

An Application to set aside the CCJ could stall any Application for a Final Charging Order.

He needs to give you the facts, and he needs to do that fast!

Di

[Austinhead]

Re: Charging Order Letter - Ex's Debt

I don't know, he has a load of debts that he hasn't been dealing with (1 of the reasons for our separation). I know he went to court for 1 of them, but whether it's the same one i'm not sure. He did say that he had recently contacted them to inform them of his new address, and he thinks this is the reason they have applied for the charging order.

He has talked about filing for bankruptcy as he feels that this would resolve the issue - but I haven't looked into whether or not this is the case.
He has also talked about objecting on the grounds that, whilst the mortgage and house is in joint names, the equity is mine as it came from a previous house sale, which was in my name only - again I have no idea whether this would hold any bearing (my gut instincts tell me not).

[Austinhead]

Re: Charging Order Letter - Ex's Debt

Any more advice ?. I'm running out of time and would like some help on how I can respond to the letter.

Thanks in advance.