Sell jointly owned property

[CYNthesys]

I'm trying to help a close friend re a joint mortgage she has with her ex/partner. Friend cannot afford to make mortgage payments and wants to apply to court for an order of sale, otherwise she fears being repossessed. Background information - Friend and Partner been together for over 20 years and have 2 sons together aged 17 and 18. Her partner who is Zimbabwean decided to pursue a business venture in chrome mining in Zimbabwe He is a director of the Zimbabwean firm involved that is registered in South Africa. He went to Zimbabwe around 12 months ago on the pretext that he was only going for a month to "set the wheels in motion" He has never returned to UK since and is not contactable, no address, his emails bounce back and phone is unanswered. Friend has been told she needs an address for service of court papers, but as she has tried and failed to find contact details can she use his last known address for service (which is their jointly owned home) and if so what procedure should she follow, eg would she need court's permission etc.

[atticus]

She may not use the last known address if she knows that he no longer lives there. See CPR 6.9(3) and (4) - https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...les/part06#6.9

Is this individual by any chance the director of a company registered in the UK? If so, s1140 Companies Act 2006 may provide the way forward - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga...6/section/1140

[CYNthesys]

He still officially lives at the home address, he has a number of creditors, bank account, credit cards etc all registered at his uk home address and afaik HMRC & DWP still have him recorded as living at home address.

[atticus]

I am not sure that any of that is sufficient to justify "last known address".

Can he be contacted via the Zimbabwean company?

[CYNthesys]

The Zimbabwean company is registered in South Africa, however its only email contact address is in Salford. He is not currently a director of a UK company, The Zimbabwean company is listed as having only 2 directors (my friends ex and his Nigerian friend) so wondering what procedure is for service is if his address, phone number and personal email address are all unknown.

[atticus]

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...pd_part06a#9.1

[CYNthesys]

very helpful, thank you very much