Immigrating, leaving debt behind.

[lou107]

We are immigrating hopefully before the end of the year if our papers come through. We are in negative equity on our mortgage. We want to try sell the house now & are hoping the bank will accept a short sale for us. We have both lost our jobs this week & have no money coming in at the moment so are about to apply for benefits. What will happen if we cant sell out house?? We are going to immigrate anyway but we will try our best to sell the house bofore we go but what if it doesnt sell, can the debt follow us to canada?? i was told it cant but need more info from people out there in our situation. What do we do?? so stressed!!

[ummmm]

How will you afford to emigrate with no money?

[lou107]

My mother passed away last year r.i.p. my brother is going to buy me out of her house cas at the moment we have it up for sale & it's not selling so he's going to give me my share to help me out. Also i have to sell my car '08 which i own & all the personal belongings. my in-laws have also said bofore we go they will give us something to get us started. so all going well we could have enough to get us started up.

[Panic Button]

Are you sure the Canadians will let you in without outstanding debts?

[Panic Button]

Oops, doubled up on the outs there

[ummmm]

Do you plan on going forever because you'll make it hard to come back. What if you don't like it?

[Buenchico]

Debts can follow you anywhere that the courts recognise them.

For example, if a Canadian citizen moved to the UK (owing money in his home country) his creditors could pursue him through our civil courts, seeking a CCJ and then (if the CCJ was not complied with) taking further enforcement action, such as sending in the bailiffs.

I have no reason to suppose that Canadian courts would not recognise a debt incurred in the UK. Indeed, given that their justice system is largely based upon ours, I'd wager that they would.

Chris

[lou107]

I lived in canada for 9years, came home 15yrs ago, i am a canadian citizen. i can return with my 2 children who will get citizenship also through me but my husband has to apply to immigrate & i will sponsor him. I want to sell the house & hope that the bank will work with me on a short sale cas i cant give them what i dont have. If the debt will follow us then we'll have to work out a payment plan for the rest of our livies. Cant believe we are in this situation, terrible. The only thing that keeps me going is that we're not alone, there are so many people out there going through this also.

[ummmm]

Can't you postpone until the house is not in negative equity? That would be the most sensible thing to do....

[lou107]

The biggest reason I came home 15years ago was i missed my mam so much. she passed away last year so iv nothing holding me here now. My mam will be with me no matter where i live.

[lou107]

I live out in the country, 15mins from nearest town. was told would only get e450/mth if we rent it. the market is not going to pick up any time soon so we'd be waiting a long time for that to happen & houses are not selling in remote parts. The estate agent says we'd want to be letting it go for little or nothing to get a buyer. I have to try anyway so we're going to put it on daft.ie this weekend & have a sign made & try sell it. we can only try..

[ummmm]

Good luck...just tie up all the loose ends so you can live in peace.....

[lou107]

Thanks Ummmm, i just hoping that i would hear from someone going through the same thing. I love my country bu it's on it's knees right now. I hope one day it will recover but it is going to take a very very long time with what the banks & not to mention the church have done to this country.. Thanks again!

[philkool]

go for it as i cant see any depts to worry about

[philkool]

oops debts

[bushbaby_de]

I'm not sure what you mean by a short sale but if you sell the house for less than you owe the bank you will still own them the rest. Don't you have to show sufficient funds to sponsor someone? Could you rent the house out until the market recovers and you are out of negative equity?

[lou107]

posted a long answer but for some reason it wont post here. odd, maybe they blocked it.

[lou107]

philkool, wish i couldnt see any debts to worry about.

[themas]

I put a post on here as well - which has disappeared. To repeat:

1. Debts can follow you abroad - often by being sold to a company operating in the country you are in. Don't assume you can lose them.

2. Seems unlikely to me that your mortgage lender will agree to you selling the house as they will not get the mortgage paid off in full. This may seem odd, but often they prefer to repossess. However, talk to them & see what they say.

3. Have you considered getting rid of the debts before you go? This would involve you (& your husband if the house is jointly owned) going bankrupt (the shortfall on the house would be written off in the bankruptcy even if the house is not sold until after you go bankrupt.) There would probably be downside - you might lose your inheritance from your mother's house; your husband would have to check that it would not affect him going to Canada. If you want to think about it look at the booklets on the Insolvency Service site &/or get free advice from a debt advice agency such as local CAB. Do not get involved with any fee charging companies.

[lou107]

Thanks Themas for the advice. Does this info apply here in the republic of Ireland? Iv been told it's not easy here to go bankrupt.

[themas]

Ah! I'd assumed you were in England or Wales. I don't know anything about bankruptcy law in Republic of Ireland, I'm afraid. But you ought to be able to find out something from relevant websites.