Threatened with repossession - No arrears

[scoobydoo]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

All the advice is good keep getting all the information you can.

I assume that the same as any other possession it will still be up to the judge not the lender whether possession is granted and as you are doing everything you can to maintain payments and avoid possession they may not get what they want.

The other way is to lodge an official complaint and say in the present economic climate you have no choice but to continue renting and you are disapointed with their lack of co-operation and you will consider a complaint to the FOS .

Make it clear that you did not intend this to be a letting property but circumstances beyond your control have left you no choice.

May not work, but worth a try as you can always show the letter in court if necessary.

[Fendyweather]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

Simple answer, why cant you just say you are now living back in the property !! get all your correspondence from direct line sent to the property again and just get the tenant to forward it on. Write them a letter saying due to their ridiculous stance in this you have been forced to move back to UK and take up residence in the property again. How can prove that you are not living there, unless they start legal proceedings to get you to declare where you are actually living. If you let them think youre back there, surely they wont harass you anymore. As long as the mortgage is being paid on time, how will they then have cause to hassle you at that address. Just keep doing what youve been doing, paying the mortgage on time every month, but register your address for correspondence again back at the property address. What can they do to prove you are not there ?? Seems fairly simple to me. I hardly think that if the mortgage is being paid on time, and you say youre back in the property, theyre not gonna start calling round with clipboard and interrogation sheet to the house surely. !!

[StoneLaughter]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

While common sense is screaming at me to agree, I cannot condone the approach suggested by FW. It sounds altogether too close to "obtaining a service you would not otherwise be entitled to by means of a deception or concealment". That is a paraphrase of some text in the Fraud Act which refers to dishonest behaviour and offences and suchlike.

I really wouldn't go there.

[Fendyweather]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

All I am advocating is not actual deception, but use the time that that course of action buys you to try to secure the lending from elsewhere i.e. another source or lender, and then you can kick the current one into touch once you have secured BUY TO LET lending from another source. I was simply stating this, not as an overall act of deception, but simply buy you time to DO THE RIGHT THING, and try to sort it from elsewhere. Where is the harm in buying time to stop them resposessing. x

[007flyingfish]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

Thanks again for the replies.

In response to Fendyweather we are unable to get a buy to let mortgage elsewhere for the reasons already outlined in the post, and therefore the option of pretending that we have returned to the property doesn't sit too comfortably with us.

We have now agreed to the tenancy agreement being renewed in Sep 09, which will now put us on a collision course with the lender, who has said that they will not permit any further lets.

I have written to DirectLine and asked them for a copy of all correspondence to be sent to us - including the original letter granting permission to let. As soon as I have a copy of this I will post it on the forum.

I am also wondering whether it is a good idea to contact one of the Sunday papers (The Mail On Sunday), and writing to their "Questions of Cash" style columnist for advice?

I'm also wondering whether the FOS is the next logical step if the lender and I cannot reach agreement on what will happen after the begining of September - Can the FOS mediate if we are clearly in breach of the contract, regardless of whether or not the mortgage is up to date?

Any views would be greatly appreciated...

[Emerald]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

Which letter is it you are waiting for? Your earlier posts say you think they only gave permission for 6 months some years ago.
I don't think anyone can officially mediate for you as you are in breach of the T&C, and as you say yourself you have blatantly gone against what they have agreed after Sept. How far they would push this is anyones guess, but I guess a lot of people have found themselves as accidental landlords over the past year or so, and a lot of BTL landlords would love a residential mortgage.
How long will it take you to pay off the £22K?

[enaid]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

Several letters have been exchanged since, and I have been granted a reprieve until early September when the current tenancy agreement ends. However they have stated quite clearly that they will apply for a repossession order if I continue to let the property after this date as I will be in breach of the terms and conditions of the mortgage.

[enaid]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

.

When I received my latest mortgage statement in August 2008 I wrote to Direct Line as I had moved within Spain and updated my Spanish address. They then wrote back and told me that they would not permit any further letting of the property. They said that Direct Line provides mortgages for people to live in, and that they are not a buy to let lender.

Several letters have been exchanged since, and I have been granted a reprieve until early September when the current tenancy agreement ends. However they have stated quite clearly that they will apply for a repossession order if I continue to let the property after this date as I will be in breach of the terms and conditions of the mortgage.

We have now agreed to the tenancy agreement being renewed in Sep 09, which will now put us on a collision course with the lender, who has said that they will not permit any further lets.

I have written to DirectLine and asked them for a copy of all correspondence to be sent to us - including the original letter granting permission to let. As soon as I have a copy of this I will post it on the forum.

I am also wondering whether it is a good idea to contact one of the Sunday papers (The Mail On Sunday), and writing to their "Questions of Cash" style columnist for advice?

I'm also wondering whether the FOS is the next logical step if the lender and I cannot reach agreement on what will happen after the begining of September - Can the FOS mediate if we are clearly in breach of the contract, regardless of whether or not the mortgage is up to date?

Any views would be greatly appreciated...[/quote]


IMHO I think they are being reasonable in the steps they are taking, purely because you are breaking the T&C's. I also don't have any idea if they would be able to repossess, only a judge can decide that.
I don't know who you have contacted over this matter, I would give these a call see if they can give any advice at least on how you stand legally as to losing the house Mortgages homes : FSA Money made clear - hubs

[scoobydoo]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

I agree with what you are all saying in respect of the T&C however if the lender can prove that renting the property is the only way to avoiding possession then I think there may be more sympathy from a court if the lender does go for possession. In normal circumstances we would be recommending a re-mortgage or sale. But if this has been attempted and failed then at least the poster has tried all other options available.

It would be important to show that this was not intended to be a buy to let property and also provide evidence that you have asked the lender to transfer to this type of mortgage if it is available.Do Direct line do buy to let mortgages?


What was the last letter you wrote to them and when?

[enaid]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

Do Direct line do buy to let mortgages?

No they don't scooby

[scoobydoo]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

Thanks Enaid

to Flying Fish

When you applied for the re-mortgages were they specific buy to let mortgages ? If so and you have a signed tenancy agreement and the loan is only £22000 then I am suprised you have been refused?

I think it will come to a point that you will have to decide whether the damage to your credit status will be worth the chance of having your say in court. It really could be a case of a sypathetic judge or the ruling may be out of the courts hands purely because the terms of the mortgage have been breached.

If you want to try one last letter than I will help you.

[BOBSCOUSE]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

Kick me if I'm being stupid and that you did this as a matter of commonsense FlyingFish, but in relation to the Direct Line refusal to give a copy of the letter "We must advise that this information has been subject to the removal of third party data for the reasons of confidentiality", would that be due to the fact that an SAR for data on a joint account would have to be requested by both parties - did yourself and your partner BOTH sign the SAR?

I can't see how they would refuse to send you the letter if that had been done, but I can see that they would refuse it if one party hadn't signed the request.

(Awaits kick up the arse for stupidity)

[WendyB]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

If you SAR a joint account, you still end up getting the same info, it just means that if only one of you requests the SAR then info relating to the name of the other person gets blocked out, as does info re others, ie persons who work for the bank, their names etc. The only way that the letter would not be supplied is if it was addressed to a person who had not requested SAR. But as this was a joint account any letters from the mortgage company should have been addressed to both, or at least separate copies sent to both.

[007flyingfish]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

Thanks to everyone for their views.

To answer the questions that have been raised:-

The last time I wrote to Direct Line was about a week ago, and it was to request a copy of the original letter granting permission to let. I don't have a copy of this letter, and I want to see what they actually said in 2004.

Someone asked how long it would take to pay off the outstanding £22K debt. I have savings of about £7k, and we could borrow the rest of the money from our families if we had to. If we took a loan out for the full amount remaining I would be happy to pay this off over 10 years.

When we first took out the mortgage in 1999 we were both employed full time in the UK. In 2004 I took a new job and was posted overseas, and my partner left their job and came with me. We received permission to let the property, and after a year with my new employer I left their employ to set up my own business in Mallorca, Spain. When we took out the mortgage in 1999 we had no idea that our lives would change like this.

Direct Line do not offer buy to let mortgages.

We have approached a specialist lender for expats, who initially said that he had found us a mortgage with a UK based lender. We supplied him with my salary details and details of the income from the property and he asked for a fee of £250 by c/card over the phone. I declined saying that I wanted to see details of the mortgage (payments etc) before paying his fee. 2 hours later he rang back and said that he could no longer offer the mortgage as my income was insufficient, and the income from the tenants couldn't be included in the calculation. We have searched really thoroughly for a BTL re-mortgage, but our circumstances are so unusual the no-one wants to lend to us.

Scoobydoo raises an interesting point about the affect that going to court could have on my credit rating. Presumably my credit rating would only be affected if I lost the case - as we will ensure that our payments on the mortgage remain up to date? I would also like to take up Scoobydoo's offer in respect of writing Direct Line one last letter - although perhaps it is better to wait until I receive a copy of their original letter granting permission to let?

Thanks again to everyone.

[scoobydoo]

Re: Threatened with repossession - No arrears

I think at the moment that is your only choice - I think we can do the letter later if you want and we can just refer to the original letter.

Reference your credit rating I am not sure if the fact that they would just take you to court for possession may show on your rating and as I said above if you are breaking the terms of the mortgage you may be very reliant on a VERY sympathetic judge - so I am not sure whether it is worth the risk. It is now really up to you to decide what to do when they reply to this last letter.

Back later at work now.