Legal Charge Not Being Released For A Sale.

[chrissa1]

A man who has a legal charge on a property I have successfully sold via the Assisted Voluntary Scheme with my mortgage lender, has refused to release the charge, thus ending the sale. He says he is owed £20K by my late husband, (long story) but it has been explained to him that I am in Negative Equity anyway and therefore he will not get a penny.

He is just being bloody minded and spiteful. Is there anything that I can do? I've sent him an email appealing to his better nature.

[factor-fiction]

That seems an awful situation to be in chrissa1, but I can also understand why he might be desperate to get some or all of his £20000 back

[chrissa1]

But that's my point factor. He's been told by his solicitor that it is in Negative Equity and also advised by them to release it but he won't.

[factor-fiction]

Sorry chrissa1- I don't really understand how the negative equity sitation affect the legal charge.
Let's consider an example:
Your mortgage £100K
House value £70K
Legal charge £20K
If the house is sold for £75K won't he get the £20K first, leaving you with £55K, which then goes to the mortgagor and leaves you still owing £45K.
Is that how it works? Or will you debt be written off?

Maybe he is prepared to wait as long as necessary and hope the situation improves rather than just write-off £20K

[chrissa1]

No factor. In my case:
House Value £450K
Mortgage on it £367 + Arrears
Sale Price Agreed £350K

Therefore I still owe the mortgage lender lots of money. There Is no money left to pay this man.
He can gain nothing by his refusal to release the charge.
Also as the house was in both our names he would be entitled to only half of any funds left over even if there were any.

[chrissa1]

Also the mortage company will just cut their losses and sell it at auction, therefore it will realise even less of it's true value.

[beckyboo]

Put yourself in his shoes - would you be prepared to write off £20k just because the other person didn't want to pay (irrespective of the reasons behind the refusal)

[chrissa1]

But even his solicitor has explained the situation to him and tried to persuade him. There Is no money that will Ever be available to him from the sale of the house.

[chrissa1]

No no Eddie. He is not a tenant. He took out a charge on the property when my late husband lost a court case against him.

[chrissa1]

Quite the opposite Eddie. I spoke to his solicitor yesterday and she confirmed that she had advised him to release it but she can't do anything if he is determined to cause as much upset to me, my husband's widow as possible.

[redcrx]

its still his choice. Whilst he has a charge, he has the chance of one day recouping the money. The property is not in negative equity if its valued at £450k, the bank just want to sell it low and release their own funds. I dont blame him hanging on a refusing to lift the charge when there is the potential of all the debts being paid. Its £20k, not small change

[chrissa1]

Then, I'll just have to live with the satisfaction that he won't get a penny. We fought this case for two years but couldn't afford to fight him anymore. It caused my late husband much stress and grief.

[jackthehat]

Perhaps if he enforces the rights that this charge gives him, your house will end up being sold for more than the low-figure the bank is likely to want to off-load it at, and it may reduce your liabilities with them, too?

[chrissa1]

The mortage lender will sell it straightaway and realise much less than the achieved price now. It will leave me with a debt of £300K instead of £52K.

[chrissa1]

We had it on the market three years ago at an asking price of £450K. The few offers we had then came nowhere near that.
You're right though trigger. But, I just want to get rid of the house and get on with my life.

[chrissa1]

PPI trigger?? Not worth the paper it's written on. My husband was self-employed.....not covered.