Chasing mortgage debt in the UK

Has anyone heard of banks chasing mortgage debts in the UK ? I am in the unfortunate position of having to consider reposession but am worried that if the property is sold for half of it's value the balance will be outstanding and the bankmay seize my UK assets ie. my home.

Legal blogs warn of property being seized in the UK but I wonder if this has actually happened to anyone .

Comments and experiences of reposession procedure would be welcome.

I copied this from another site, it does look hopeful for people in your position,

THE Spanish government has slammed a court ruling which prevents banks from chasing bankrupt homeowners for more money.
Finance secretary Elena Salgado criticised the Navarra judge who ruled that giving a mortgaged house back to a bank is sufficient to cancel a mortgage debt.
And this is the case even if it has suffered negative equity.
Now international rating agencies such as Moody’s have warned that the ruling could endanger the Spanish banking system.
The Navarra court ruled that a family had to be forgiven nearly 30,000 euros of negative equity on the home they had mortgaged through BBVA bank.
It came about when the bank repossessed their home valued at 71,000 euros. But after the flat failed to sell at auction it was reduced and sold for 43,000 euros and the bank sought the remainder.

Eventually the court decided that as it was the bank that had initially valued the house at 71,000 euros when it gave the loan, the homeowner could not be expected to pay the difference.
While the ruling has been welcomed by consumer groups, agency Moody’s have warned it could deter important investors in Spanish mortgage debt.
The case has similarities to a British family, who face losing their UK home after they defaulted on the mortgage for a holiday home in Estepona.
The Olive Press revealed in December that the Chattertons face losing their 320,000 euro home in Wiltshire after Banco Sabadell got a European Enforcement Order (EEO).
The new court ruling is expected to help the couple, both paramedics from Chippenham.

Via the Olive Press.

Thanks so much for this. It gives me a little hope.

Sorry to be a negative voice .. but isn't this just what happened in America and got us in the global financial meltdown that we find ourselves in?    Where Americans facing negative equity just hand back the keys at the banks cost?

Sorry, but in my humble opinion, if you agree to buy a house at x thouands of  euros/pounds/dollars/sheikels  etc then its your decision that it is worth what YOU agree to pay.   I feel sure that if said house doubled in price (as they used to in the property hey days)  then  i suspect that you would not be rushing to the bank to share your good fortune!

omg am i sticking up for the banks?  Never thought i would do that!

Whilel i really do sympathasis with your unfortunate predicament, i do feel that the court ruling talked about is negative to the fundamentals of a country and will in fact reduce their global financial standing with respect to the rest of the world.  Which at the end of the day is to the detriment of the populous of that country.

There are a lot of decent, hardworking and responsible people who through no fault of their own have found themselves in difficulties and the banks have offered no help at all. How devastating is it to discover that your home is going to be repossesed and your family nowhere to live. You can make a decision on the facts presented to you, take a loan for that which you know that you can repay then the whole world goes mad, you lose your job, someone becomes unable to work through an unexpected ill health and everything crashes around you. Imagine that you buy a house for 100,000 euros, you have a 60,000 euro mortgage and a couple of years down the line you are unable to meet your payments. The banks reposses, sell your property for 60,000 euros (they already had 40,00 euros of your money) so their total is 100,00 euros while you have lost everything. It has never happened to anyone in my family but who knows what is round the corner? I am not saying that some people were not a little reckless but many weren't and have lost everything. These TV programmes have a lot to answer for.

In the last few weeks I have been contacted by quite a few people who own property in Spain that is only worth the outstanding mortgage or thereabouts and the dilemma they face is the property is costing them between mortgage/community/bills maybe EUR1500 per month and at best (if they could find a tenant) retun a rental income of maybe EUR800 per month. The shortfall is killing them and they just want to plug that hole by giving back the keys and walking away.

Many in doing so will have lost in excess of EUR100k based on the money they invested but they are willing to accept that loss to just to draw a line under Spain.

I'm not sure if it has something to do with having held on up to now in the hope of a recovery but now can see no light at the end of the tunnel particularly as the outlook is bleak and further price falls anticipated.

In a way this is in line with I think a thread by Normansands whereby he made some statement that those having completed and those not havng completed are in a similar situation and have lost similar sums of money.

The cases I am referring to are holiday homes and for many circumstances have also changed in the UK so at least they still have their UK house.

How many people are in this situation and comtemplating throwing the towel in?

Dear All,

what a lot of nonsense!!!!!!!!

the highly rewarded bank or mortgage staff, in their normal work situation and following all head office rules, grant a loan based on their unique knowledge and expertise, they know all in their field and any market judgements they have to make are their responsibility alone.

if they require additional security for a weak case then they should ask for it, not try to foist it on to the weaker member of the contract later.

any mistakes they make are theirs and their employers, not the unfortunate applicants.

No question.

Simple natural justice.

Resignations accepted here with no golden handshakes.

Regards

Norman

PS in any event they have themselves conned the applicants with their "optimistic" valuations - again their responsibility.

This message was last edited by normansands on 02/03/2011.

Forgive me, but what is a contract if not an agreement between two parties, one party fails to honour thier part so is the other party to blame?

Sorry Hay', not forgiven.

nonsense is just that whether given in criptic form or not.

the repossesion ends the contract with the security and all payments surrendered.

Regards

Norman

hand the keys back is ok by silly old  n.s.

Does anyone know of a solicitor in the u.k, that could assist us with trying to negotiate or stop our Spanish Bank from pursuing us for mortgage payments and the difference between the valuation and the possible sale price -  we have an apartment in Spain and have had for 3 years but we cannot now afford to keep this property up due to circumstances in the U>K>

thanks

So Norman, we should all have bought 4 or 5 apartments each? If the market had continued to rise we´d have been millionaires. But as it collapsed we just hand the keys back?

Your saying that property investment should guarantee returns are you?

Genius. 

ceri1 - where is your property?

have you tried dealing with this matter in Spain?

In reply to TP1 I wish to defend myself by saying that I have tried everything to keep paying my mortgage but we have an unco-operative bank who will not accept anything other than full mortgage payment. I have suggested interest only or paying half but this has been refused. We have used savings to pay for the last year but they have now run out.

Yes , I did agree to pay a certain amount but did not have a crystal ball six years ago which would tell me that I would lose my job ! When taking out the mortgage we considered the implications very seriously but as we were both in 'safe' professions did not envisage any future problems.  Not only am I having to cope with the loss of employment and self respect but fiinancial hardship too. I did not bring this upon myself and was not trying to make a quick buck out of my Spanish property !

Nobody knows what lies ahead in life and I am trying to make the best of a bad job I spend a lot of time worrying about this huge commitment and what the consequences of reposesion may be. My sympathy to anyone else who is at risk of being in a similar position.

So you have 2 houses Manorpark? You don´t feel that that is excessive? I don´t have a crystal ball either, which is why I rent holiday accommodation each year, rather than taking out a 30 year mortgage.

Manor park and Faro - i totally agree with you manorpark, we are in the same predicament,  safe jobs, professional jobs etc etc, thought everything was fine and used all of our savings etc.  NOw we are at the stage where we are speaking with the bank in spain they have refused dacian en pargo as suddenly they feel ofcourse the valuation of the property is no where near what they themselves valued it at some 3 years ago . In answer to your query fargo we have not found anyone in spain that we can trust , - unless you know of anyone - we have a spanish lawyer who is very very close to the bank itself so we are not really happy with him dealing wtih things on our behalf ...

ceri1 - there a few ok lawyers but you need to say where your property is or in what town your bank etc

We are near to Campoamor/Cabo Roig area in Costa Blanca and our bank is Bank of Valencia in Torravieja

Any suggestions helpful,  have you come across anyone who has successfully done dacien en pargo?

Put money down on 2 off plans on Villeneuva del Rosario golf complex in 2004 ( palmera properties ) ( grupo mirador )

Thought i was being clever - sell before escritura like everyone were doing and make plenty.

Lost the lot - usual stuff that is discussed hourly on here.

Boy am I glad.

I have a fully legal house on Valle del Este in Almeria, and it is only when you have bought and the bills start rolling in do you realise how expensive it is having a second holiday home.

see if this firm can recommend anyone

but really you need to find a lawyer who can pop in and out because otherwise they will not respond.

http://www.white-baos.com/?lang=en

It is possible but it is hard work to get the bank to see sense but it depends to a certain extent on value/property etc

In some cases we have a buyer but when you crunch the number there is a shortfall and seller is skint so we plead with bank to accept offer on the table.