Please Help- Final Charging order- what can I do

[lfc3110]

Re: Please Help- Fianl Charging order- what can I do

Does anyone know if I contacted the court whether they will give me any advice?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Please Help- Fianl Charging order- what can I do

I'll start at the beginning. A few years we went through a bad patch with my husband been made redundant twice in 18 months. He ended up been unable to pay a credit card debt and a charging order was placed on our home. We have since split up and I am in the marital home with our 2 children aged 13 and 14. I have been getting letters from the creditor- ME111 ltd? telling me they would be taking me to court for this debt. My ex was getting the same letters to my house and when he came to visit the kids I gave him his post but it would appear he's not read the post or chosen to ignore it. Anyway, I contacted them a few weeks ago following a letter they sent advising me of a court date and I replied stating I would not be attending as the debt wasn't mine. Today I have got home to a final charging order stating the debt of £6,600 needs paying along with their costs of £3100 totaling £9700 in the next 28 days otherwise my house would be put up for sale and I would have to hand it over. This has completely shook me and I have no idea where to turn or what to do. Can they do this to me when this isn't my debt? All advice on what to do next greatfully received please

Although in principle the law allows creditors who have secured their debt with a charging order, to apply for an order for sale, in reality orders for sale are hardly ever granted. The threat of applying for one is often used when people are not making any payments towards judgments that have been secured on property.

Can you tell us what the terms of the judgment were?

The credit card was in his name only. But then somehow I'm involved because of this charging order and im named as second defendant on the papers I received yesterday

That should give you even more protection against an order for sale being successful, if the property was jointly owned, they'd have recorded a restriction rather than a notice (a full CO).

November 2010

Have any payments been made into this judgment since it was obtained? See below: http://www.bdl.org.uk/images/15_EW_N...g%20orders.pdf

If your creditor applied for your county court judgment before 1 October

2012, they can apply to the court for permission to sell your home, called an order for sale, if:

a charging order has been made final;
and
you have not met the terms or conditions that the judge added to the order.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Please Help- Fianl Charging order- what can I do

Does anyone know if I contacted the court whether they will give me any advice?

Court staff are not meant to give advice.

By the sounds of it, the letter you have received is just a threat of applying for an order for sale rather than an application for one. The creditor would need to apply to the court for such an order and many factors would be taken into consideration. You may want to look at this: https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/chargingorder.asp

At the hearing the court (District Judge) should look at the following points / proposals when deciding if the order for sale should go ahead, be adjourned, or suspended.

• The history of the loan
• When you bought the home, what did you buy it for, long term family home?
• Is there enough equity to cover the Charging Order and any mortgages / secured loans
• If the debt is in your sole name, you could argue that it is unfair that others in the family will lose their home because of a debt belonging just to you.
• Any special factors eg, welfare of/ effect on any children (school), age, any disabilities, illness, stability at work, lack of alternative housing etc.
• Any offer of payments by installments and/or lump sums

The above only applies when they have already applied to the court, however, it's useful to know how to avoid reaching that stage. My suggestion would be to look at the terms of the judgment. If the court ordered payment by installments and you can't afford them, you can apply for a variation. If the order was forthwith (to pay immediately), you can apply for an installment order. You need to fill in form N245 with your financial details. You may have to pay a £40 fee which can be waived in certain circumstances. If you are on a low income or on receipt of certain benefits, you may not have to pay the fee. You need to look at form ex160a to see if you qualify for a remission.

A repayment offer is the best way to avoid an application for an order for sale and, should things progress that far, it would also help you convince the court not to grant the order, along with your family circumstances. Do make sure you make enough allowances to cover your everyday expenses and any other repayments and make an offer you can afford to keep up in the long-term. It's best to offer what you can realistically afford than to go too high and be forced to default on your payments. :thumb:

A good online budgeting tool can be found on this website: NEDCAB budgeting tool. You can save your completed form in Word format. :typing:

I have sent the letter by email. I am just so scared and I really don't know what to do

Try not to worry too much, although it may sound a bit alarming, orders for sale for credit card debts are very rare!

[wales01man]

Re: Please Help- Fianl Charging order- what can I do

A repayment offer ?Its not the OPs debt They state it was a Credit card so why are they named

[Amethyst]

Re: Please Help- Fianl Charging order- what can I do

Just got in so will sort kids/tea put then be back.

Have received the letter. Thank you. It is a sale order. So we will need to apply to court but need to discuss what you want to do. I'll put up a copy asap.

One good thing, if you can call it that, is the court have specified a minimum sale price. Haven't checked market value yet but good it is specificied, saves massive underselling and profit making off others misfortune.

Be back in a while xxxxx

[Amethyst]

Re: Please Help- Final Charging order- what can I do

Documents.

House value approx 150 - 160k

[Amethyst]

Re: Please Help- Final Charging order- what can I do

I would highly recommend speaking with Shelter and Citizens Advice. They may be able to get someone to assist you and will tell you what options you have open to you with regards finding a new home (rental / social housing etc) Tell them you have been ordered to hand over possession to the claimants on the 8th May.

Otherwise all you can do is apply to the court to overturn the sale order and make an offer to pay. Possibly this would be best going through the claimants directly for a negotiation - it would have to be a decent monthly payment amount (ie £5 a month is not going to get you anywhere) I really couldn't say how much chance you have of them accepting an offer at this late stage as they have held a final charge over the property for 3 years now and no attempt has been made to pay the debt by installment or otherwise.

How much is your mortgage standing at ?

Who pays the mortgage ?

Do you want to take over the house from your ex husband ?

Could you see yourself being able to buy him out ?

Basically - if you fight to keep the house through this, is it worth it if you will lose it eventually if ex stops paying mortgage ? Its kind of decision time on that score I'm afraid.

You are down as second defendant, not on the credit card claim which was just against him, but on the charging order application - you could have defended your part of the ownership of the property and asked for just a restriction to be placed as opposed to a full charge.

[MissFM]

Re: Please Help- Final Charging order- what can I do

Can the OP not question the sale figure of 130K (20-30k beneath the value quoted above)?

And the 3K odd costs?

And apply to overturn the order for sale on the grounds two children live there, that it is the family home and that no division of assets has yet taken place following the marital breakdown? Or at least apply to vary it so that the OP could have a chance of conducting any sale herself in a more reasonable timescale thereby obtaining the full market value?

In view of the fact that the debt is not the OP's it seems a remarkably small sum, and a very harsh judgment, to order an immediate sale of the property on such unfavourable terms.

[Amethyst]

Re: Please Help- Final Charging order- what can I do

Yes. We would need a lot more info on the intervening 3 years between the final charging order ( 2011) and this sale order to know how viable that is. The arguments could have been made at the charging order hearing and would have likely resulted in an installment order with a restriction on the property.

When was the relationship breakdown - was that after the charging order (March 2011) or before?