Hi,
Please can anyone advise?
Without wishing to bore with all the detail, I am second charge on a property belonging to someone that I thought was a friend. The charge thankfully was applied to provide peace of mind to me that I would see the repayment; we have subsequently fallen out. The original loan was made early last summer with a vehicle as security and 31st December latest repayment date. I gave notice in August for the termination of the agreement; my friend then informed me that the vehicle belonged not to him but his (allegedly) estranged although cohabiting wife so it wasn’t his to use as security after all.
The second charge was applied in December for a property – not the primary residence – that was on the market and like I say for my peace of mind in theory. I have a strong suspicion the repayment would never be seen if the charge hadn’t been applied – the property holder “forgot” to amend paperwork that wasn’t quite complete enough for land registry and I discovered this just before the deadline so I was able to ensure myself it was applied.
It has been offered on, surveyed and now it is down to contracts. This situation affects my own cashflow and I am keen to resolve it soonest – not least in order to help me to completely exit a very damaging “friendship”. I have asked for updates on timescales and what signature if any I will need to provide and when.
My “friend” sent me an update yesterday which I requested a week ago with a sob story that may or may not be true but which apparently has been a barrier to his communicating fully and which I view as an effort to buy time for some reason. No update in terms of timescales. When I suggested that I can contact the estate agent directly for an update I was informed that the agent is legally not allowed to. [I have previously been in touch with the agent. One of the terms of the charge being applied – which actually included an additional loan and my wisdom on that need not be debated; I was clearly ridiculous – was that I was to be included on all agent communications]. I think that perhaps the agent may have been instructed not to share information, rather than legally not allowed to
My questions are:
- As second charge holder can I enforce communication openness/is it reasonable to contact agent to establish progress in the absence of communication from the vendor and if so, does this need to be a legal enforcement
- At what point would anyone view prevarication to be an excessive delay and suggest I should approach this legally even perhaps with a view to forcing a sale
- I originally agreed to no interest, but having provided the notice and the loan latest repayment date been past, is it reasonable to explore retrospective interest application
- Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me to expedite this resolution
I hope that makes sense. It’s long, but I don’t want to drip feed. PS the charge is £1,000 over the loan value – in case lawyer fees ended up being incurred.