All my money is in my house and I can't sell it

[Lucyweeks]

I have been trying to sell for six months. The building society has been awful. No repayment holiday, no interest only.
I have been seriously ill and will not be able to return to full time work.
The estate agent has told me I'm not going to sell until the autumn as only the big houses (£1.5m+) are selling in our neck of the woods due to our famous school. The building society won't wait.
If I reduce again I have no equity and nothing to rent with. I'd have to borrow off family to pay removal costs. I'm too old to start again. How can I stop them taking the house from me?

Is his wage not enough to rent a two bedroom flat for you all?

You really do want to avoid repossession; the house will likely be sold for less than you could have got and you will be liable for the shortfall. It’s better to walk away with zero equity than to have no house and still owe money.

But how much money have you actually got in the property if one more reduction would leave you with no equity?

Trigger the formal complaints process today.
https://www.cumberland.co.uk/complaints.
I think they must try to resolve your complaint within 3 working days, and if not, send you an acknowledgement with a timeline. They have a maximum of 8 weeks to provide a final response after that you can escalate to the Financial Ombudsman for free.

Stress your health issues affecting income, your dependant DD vulnerability, that you requested a payment holiday/ interest-only switch as a reasonable adjustment, they refused without adequate reason and that they therefore may have breached FCA Consumer Duty and the FCA's mortgage conduct rules and you want them to investigate your case. Apologies if you've done this already. If so, proceed to the FO.

I experienced similar, although mine was due to job loss and the house is at the cheaper end of the market. Despite what the buillding societies and banks say publicly, in reality there's little help or empathy for people in difficulties. They wouldn't go to interest only either and told me repossession begins a year after the first missed payment.

If you feel your house will sell eventually it might be worth delaying things with complaints, they're supposed to treat you compassionately and there are regulations that support this. It was the route I was going to go down but luckily I got work, for now.

I hope you find a solution OP.

This

It's so difficult dealing with my illness and the house situation. I've always been open to downsizing since my prognosis but I did expect support from my lender. I have complained to the coo and I get an answer by June 16th but yesterday I received a letter to say they were going for full repossession.

@PixeyandDixey yes it was a year.

I sympathise, you don't need this stress. I hope you get a decent judge with compassion who allows you time to find another buyer. The building society really are vultures.

@DancingFerretthank you. You're right. I've asked @MNHQ to pull that post.

I think from the OP’s other thread that this has been going on fir a long time and that they did allow a significant reduction in payments.

@FridayOnMyMind they did not continue with any arrangement. It was withdrawn as they deemed it unofficial. They have also asked for it to be repaid with the standard mortgage repayment so even more money per month
Can I ask why you felt the need to advance search me? I'm having a hard time, I don't need a kicking

Just to be clear the BS only allows three months grace.

Do you have Critical Illness Cover?

Just trying to get more context to better help.

I don’t think it’s going to help, focussing on how bad you feel the lender has been. If you do end up in repossession hearings then yes, explain how and why you feel they have unreasonable but for now it’s better to focus on what you can do to avoid repossession.

If you dropped the price to remove all of your equity then how would it compare to the price of the other houses being offered?

Has the lender actually started legal proceedings yet, or are they
just threatening to?

Would the owner of the 75% of the property have any interest in acquiring your share?

No critical illness cover but I'm fully covered if I die ( hopefully I'm ok, that's what they tell me!).

We can pay in full if they extend the term or interest only ( it's the same figure). They didn't sign up to the mortgage code apparently. Oh for hindsight.
Naturally my credit file is trashed.
I've been offered a new mortgage with my partner if they amend my file but they refuse. It feels very petty. I've had interest from hmo speculators as it got a lot of bathrooms! Private estate so not a chance and the small grounds charge has put people off.

Bridging is another option but it's at 12% and it can be rolled up. If I didn't sell in six months I'd be in trouble with that one.

Unfortunately they have to report factual information so you can’t get it amended.

have you looked at we buy any home or one of those type of places, see what they’ll offer you just just cut your losses and move

Yes I have looked at the webuy type people. Apparently most are estate agents so they just take over the portals. One I considered until he told me that.

Anything will sell at the right price. Can you afford to drop just to get out and release the value?

Thing is though house prices have dropped a bit, if you can’t wait until autumn (who knows if it’ll pick up then or not), then you’ll need to drop the price to something people will pay.

You sound like you have explored options so sorry if you have done this already but I experience a very blunt response from Nationwide a firm no we can’t do this, do that when I had a change of terms frankly I was shocked by them as I worked in mortgages so I knew they had options if they wanted under treating customers fairly. I got a second opinion from L&C brokers. I was able with their help remortgage on better terms without issue but according to Nationwide it was impossible.

Get a female lodger and explain about your daughter. She will be homeless if you don’t. And so will you. How will that help anyone.

At least try it and see how she gets on.

OP in your last thread you talked about court has the building society already got a suspended possession order on your house? If so you need specialised independent free debt advice from national debt helpline as your at a greater risk of eviction and the timeline on what the building society can do becomes much more important.

Sorry to hear about your situation.

I understand you had chemotherapy because of cancer. Cancer diagnosis automatically makes a person disabled in legal terms.

I have an acquaintance in a similar situation. She had a buy to let property and lots of rent arrears. She fought the building society back, on the grounds of her disability. I was quite amazed how much forebearance she got. She avoided bankcrupcy by the skin of her teeth.

I have just put a quick search on ChatGPT "does a building society need to take the mortgage holder disability into consideration if the mortgage holder is suddenly struggling to make payments because of disability?" The answer is tool long to post. Please do ask ChatGPT. It's free and you don't even need to register. I use ChatGPT a lot. It's not legal advice and it's not always accurate however it gives good pointers. Please be mindful of disclosing deeply personal information, as it's then out there forever.

I also use ChatGPT to write official letters on my behalf. However, I always check and edit as necessary and I am careful not to put personal information into ChatGPT.

I hope it helps.