Building society wants missed capital paid after illness, facing eviction

[Lucyweeks]

Due to illness we've been paying interest only on our mortgage. It's been a year due to operations and chemotherapy.
The building society want us to pay the missed capital payments or sell the property.
This we've tried to do. We've now got a new agent and some interest. We're happy to move to something smaller.
The building society are threatening us with eviction if we don't bring our account to date.
Has anybody else managed to overcome this?
All advice welcome.

Thank you all for the advice.

We're happy to downsize. It would be the right thing to do anyway. I've been disabled for twenty years but I had not expected ill health on top of it. I need a easier more accessible home.
I'm a bit old for lessons in cutting my cloth but we need peace of mind and it's been a sh*t two years.

@shiningstar2 they can evict even if you're dying. I hired a solicitor last week but he can't do much other than get a delay. That's fine because the house is too big anyway.

I don't mind selling and I've had help to get it spruced up. Hopefully it will go quickly. I've had to pay up front fees (photography and floor plans). It's a bargain but even if I had my previously salary I can't manage it

Can lenders get an eviction order without going through the court system?

I'm well out of date with the UK legislation but I thought only a judge can sign off on the eviction order (which gives you the opportunity to state your case – illness, paying what you can and the house being on the market).

I hope this is the case.

You don’t want to be liable for court costs though

Based on what you have written the bank still has a lot of stages to go through before an actual eviction happens. I imagine they have been holding off as better for them if you move and repay it that way and are now threatening further action as sale has been delayed. They would still need to serve you with a notice, issue proceedings, wait for a court date etc. during this time the sale can progress (maybe you drop the price a little and get a more motivated buyer) if it gets as far as court tell the judge what is happening/explain your disabilities ask for an adjournment to allow the sale to go through.
I very much doubt anything is happening in 2 weeks except them maybe servicing notice on you. Get some legal advice asap maybe from
Shelter?

@crossedlines I believe you are liable for all their legal fees from day one.

I would assume so. Ultimately (although of course it’s no one’s fault if they get sick/ made redundant) the situation is that you’ve entered into a contract with the building society which you now can’t keep. Someone upthread said to try not to see it as a personal thing but just factual and legal. Easier said than done I know! The building society has obligations and can’t just allow anyone to not pay the agreed amount indefinitely. Dh and I had a mortgage holiday once - it was back in the days of rubbish mat leave; I’d returned to work first time with a 3 month old baby as that was the length of paid mat leave. With our second child I wanted just a little longer and the only way was by temporarily paying interest only. We were told it was a maximum of 3 months. I took just 2 in the end because any sort of break in paying it off is not good in the long term. It was a last resort for us. If I hadn’t returned to work for any reason then we would definitely have had to sell or end up with a repossession as living on one income was impossible with interest rates as they were back then.

i understand how difficult it must feel but in your situation with uncertainty over your health, you just don’t know when you’ll be able to work again. Best bet is to go all out to sell now. The substantial drop, combined with an estate agent who knows how to market it well should bring a positive outcome.

I'm sorry, I don't have anything useful to add, but I just wanted to say I'm so sorry you are going through this on top of your illness 💕🤗

which Building Society is it?

I hope your solicitor can help you get it all sorted out.

& yes, bungalows are a ridiculous price around here too. Around here they're snapped up by developers who then extend them & turn them into larger family homes. (No actual need there are plenty of family homes, but now a severe lack of anything affordable to downsize to when you need somewhere without stairs.

Lots of love & strength to get through this 🤗

@Ihad2Strokes a three bed bungalow is the same price as a five bed modern executive house. Bigger gardens and yes always bought by developers to turn into large family homes. Even the estate agent admitted it. I believe in mixed age groups , it's healthy to have neighbours of all ages. We lived in a posh market town in our thirties and we were too young!

If they built two bed bungalows with no permitted development ( restrictive covenant on maintaining the single level etc) those builders would be mobbed. I'm not even going for a big garden ,too disabled to do it.
All seemed to be moving along last year and bam, the chancellor announced the possible surcharge and we got caught in it. Two buyers just disappeared. However if they see it at such a discount they may be back.

What about a flat?

I have a dog.

We've lived in a flat twice. My partner hated them as no outside space.

I'm prepared to downsize and will not overstretch us.
I can cope much smaller. I've done it many moons ago.
I use to have a large salary when I bought the house. Falling ill two years ago ment I took a lesser paying job ( contract so I could WFH) that fizzled out owing me money.

To the pp who suggested a complaint to the fos. my solicitor is in the process of issuing that.

You can get flats with outside space.
What is the best place you will be able to afford?

Garden flat?

I've found a property that suits. It's a two bed. I'm happy with that.

The issue is not what's out there but how much longer I can wait for an offer to go through. Lots selling near us. I'll go into rented if needed.
I don't particularly want a flat.

🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

best wishes 🌷

Can your partner not pay off the debt in exchange for having some of the equity of the house?

Sorry to hear about your situation - you mentioned that its a terminal illness. If you have been diagnosed with less than 12 months to live then some life insurance policies will pay out now, you don't need to have critical illness insurance on the policy

Not in receipt of pension lump sum for two years. As before I'm usually the bigger earner.

It isn't a 12 months diagnosis. It was two years but I'm not longer in that category. My tumour was removed.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm actually improving but it's so slow.
I could only manage a small amount of work from home if I could secure a contract. I don't want to say what I do but it's not really possible without being present in the office.

The approach you're taking isn't really making sense to me.

You only have to pay the arrears, which is ten months' capital payments. You have received a lump sum which will cover some arrears - why have you not paid this to the mortgage lender?

How much would you get if you sell the shares?

Speak to Macmillan about applying for grants and also your local homelessness team at the council who also have access to a homelessness prevention fund.