Mortgage Express are forcing me to sell my home – HELP!

Hi Gary

Have you kept all correspondence?

Have you made an official complaint to Mortgage Express and if so, if this their final decision?

If you can answer yes to both of these you are in a position to go to the Financial Ombudsman. If he rules against Mortgage Express then you are in the clear, providing you keep paying your mortgage of course!

Even if the Financial Ombudsman dismisses your complaint Mortgage Express will still have to go to Court to get a possession order. You will need to fight them, from what you have said I think you stand a very good chance that a Judge will not grant possession and tell Mortgage Express off for being unreasonable.

Don't just bury your head in the sand Gary, you MUST fight this, turn up at hearing etc. I appreciate that you are in Spain and this will not be easy but if you don't do it you will lose your home and your problems will not end there. Mortgage Express will sell it for the best offer they can get, even if that's for peanuts in a public auction, and then they will begin hunting you down for the balance between the amount they have recovered and the amount you owned them plus all of their costs.

This is so sad! I hope everything works out and you are able to keep renting out the house. It doesn't seem fair at all.

Interesting; how did MX find out that you were NOT resident in the property.
If you told them or revealed all when requesting consent to let; then you have caused your own destruction.
When it comes to lenders; economy with the truth is called for; do not reveal your hand.
ANY enquiries you made of MX should have been generic without anyone knowing who you were;NO account nos etc.
It is perfectly possible to remain on the Electoral Roll without anyone being the wiser.
Just give pre-paid envelopes to your tenants and request they post them once a week.
Not hard is it!!
Alternatively you could have requested an associate of even the LA to post the mail to you.
'Accidental LL' have to think a bit clever than the banks if they are NOT to come a cropper like you have.
I think a family member will have to return to 'occupy' the property and ensure that all bills are in a family member's name.
Your tenants will have to be advised to vacate; but that they may become immediate lodgers for the same rent plus an inclusive amount for bills.
The deposit will be returned and a lodger's agreement will be needed to be signed.
The residential occupier will then go on a long holiday to somewhere sunny........................................................................like Spain!
Of course the resi occupier will return within 30 days so as not to be in breach of the RESIDENTIAL insurance policy.
You of course wouldn't have any LL insurance policy as you are not letting the property..
Your lodger/s would be aware that nothing is especially going to happen from previous circumstances and therefore should not be too concerned about remaining as lodgers.
If they object; request they vacate and go to spareroom.co.uk and source 2 or 3 lodgers.
Yes there will be more 'wear and tear' and you will be responsible for ALL bills as lodgers have EVERYTHING inclusive, except food..............................................this means you being responsible for supplying ALL domestic consumables.....................................................................like toilet rolls!!
However none of this should be too problematic as a lodger ONLY has to be given 1 month's notice.
There is a massive demand for sparerooms out there and you should not have any problem sourcing lodgers if your existing tenants don't want to be lodgers!

Gary, it is normal practice that when you take out a Mortgage as you did and not a buy to let Mortgage, it is taken on an entirely separate terms as it would, under a buy to let. Under the terms of your Mortgage agreement you will probably find that in the event you rent your property without the written authourisation of your Mortgage company, they could enforce their rights and seek forclosure of the Mortgage as a result of a breach of the agreement.

Due to the present economic condition, many Mortgage company's are lenient and would only commence proceedings where you fall into arrears of your Mortgage payment. I have also found that in circumstances where banks have brought forclosure on breach of the mortgage term, i .e as your case indicates, the Court are hesistant to enforce such breach specially in light of the present economic condition. I think that although your mortgage company maybe legally right to seek to enforce their right, they may find it difficult to find a Judge who would willingly assist. The Court are more minded to hold in your favour, if the home in question, is your family home and if you have dependant children or some kind of medical problem which would make such forclosure unreasonable and harsh. I believe that you seek legal advise and assistance, as you may find that engaging a solicitor may resolve issues.

Hope this helps and good luck

kingsley

This is a disgrace to the banks we bailed out! You have to fight this to the end, DO NOT ALLOW THEN TOTAKE YOUR HOME! It is difficult to get a mortgage at a good rate. Good Luck... All the best!

Sorry to read your post Gary.

I know Mortgage Express are very keen to clear all mortgages so I don't think you'll get any help from them.

You say you've been told you can't re-mortgage as the LTV is very high and you live in Spain.

I don't understand the relevance of Spain but suggest you try a few mortgage brokers and see how the figures stack up.

Good luck.

@Paul Barrett - I think you post was very unhelpful in so many ways. First off, do you think a solicitor would provide such advice? You might think your implied strategy is smart but really, is isn't! Secondly, even if your idea had been a good one (which is wasn't in my opinion) what would be the point of rubbing salt in the wounds which is also what you appear to have tried to do?

If you visit Spain for 30 days at a time and and then return to the UK for 2 days at a time that is effectively spending only 24 days in the UK; that is stilling living in your UK property.
How many days does a Resi mortgage expect you to be in your resi property in the UK!!
How will a mortgage company prove you have NOT been resident at your UK property.
Will they want to see plane ticket stubs!!?
I personally would advise them you are now back living in the property and will therefore NOT need consent to let nor a let to buy mortgage!.

MA of course NO solicitor would give such an opinion; they would be mad to!
My strategy though works.
It is pointless giving the correct legal opinion when it does NOTHING to solve this little problem!
Any fool can give correct legal opinion.
It is the thinking outside of the proverbial box which maintains the status of the 'Accidental LL'.
If every A LL did the correct legal thing there would be many bankruptcies and ruined financial futures and many homeless former Accidental LL.
Acc LL would have been legal and above board; but would NOT have solved a single thing!
What would be the point of that!?
I cannot see the point of this person fighting MX in the courts; he just advises he has now moved back; job done!

@Paul Barrett - Clearly we will have to agree to disagree on this point. Unless that is the truth (i.e. they really will be moving back home) I think you are offering terrible advice which could cause even more problems. Playing this straight, as per my initial suggestion, will far improve the likelihood of saving the home in my opinion. Of course none of our opinions really matter, they are just opinions shared on a forum. However, I really do think that if MX can prove that Gary is playing games (such as those you are suggesting) a Judge will have no sympathy for Gary. In the current circumstances, I concur with the post from Kingsley, who incidentally, if you look at the link to his Twitter feed, works for KC Law Chambers!!!