Repossessed House: want to buy

[norma1980]

A house in my street has been empty for a few years now

I understand that it was repossessed. The couple who owned it split up and I've been informed neither paid mortgage to spite the other.

Title documents still show the owners name but I assume mortgage company now has house.

Not sure why house hasn't been put up for sale. Had squatters in previously.

Can I contact the bank named on title document and ask if they are selling house?

I have a relative who can't afford to get on property ladder and was hopeful that they could potentially afford this property as it is in a poor state (not unmortgageable however).

Anyone any experience of this please?

Highly unlikely that the house has been repossessed, the lender would usually get the house sold very quickly.
Did the title documents show who if anyone had a charge on the house?

Thanks for responding

Bank of Scotland Halifax division. House is NI. I understand that there may've been a problem with repossessed properties being sold in NI hence delay.

A relative had their house repossessed in England a couple of years ago and it sold within about 6 months all very quickl

I would get this thread moved over to Property/DIY.

Hi @KievLoverTwo thanks - how do I request this please?

You can report your own post, click 'other' and put 'pls move to property/diy' in the explanation box, or you can tag @mnhq , I believe.

Hi

If it has been repossed - even if you contacted the lenders - they will not sell to you and that is a fact

The lenders have a duty of care, so to speak of, to ensure a fair price is obtained

There, the house will be advertised via some local agent - once offer is accepted by lender - there has to be a public notice - often on the for sale site where the house has been advertised. Often states an offer of XXX quid received anyone wanting to improve the offer must contact XXX by ??? date

HTH

Btw - alternatively it may to auction and I've never know a lender to sell outside, ie before the auction if it going down that route

I've seen Homes under de Hammer - were a buyer has offered more and the offer has been rejected but the same buyer is able to get it cheaper and at times a lot cheaper via auction

HTH

Thanks I've requested the post is moved.

Thanks also @DistinguishedSocialCommentator

Thanks everyone

I'd like to even just get the sale moving. A neighbour spoke with the original owner of the house who informed them that the house had been repossessed and what had happened with their split.

The repossession apparently happened last June.

The house is deteriorating. Squatters were in and eventually police moved them away. The house is a state and will only get worse.

Would be good to even find out whether house is being put up for sale or auction to allow us to get ducks in a row for this.

I live on the street also and would be keen to see someone takeover the house and clean it up.

Wonder if bank could even give details about what they're proposing to do with the house.

Buying a property at auction - which is typically how lenders sell repossessions - is difficult for buyers who require a mortgage. The buyer needs to evidence funds in place prior to registering as a bidder and a contract of sale is created upon the hammer falling. It’s very unlikely they’ll be able to obtain a traditional mortgage enabling them to do either - and if the house is in a fairly poor state of repair and they’re already not especially well off, it’s certainly not a property they’d want to commit to buying without having had a survey. Auction properties usually end up with developers for that reason

Hi

The empty house now has squatters in and is a real mess. Not sure if council bro paid on it or by whom. It's at the top of the cul de sac and affects the look of the whole street.

Does anyone know who to contact at a bank to find out whether they have repossessed a house and to tell them there are squatters in there please?

Squatters have gutted house and reworked the electrics

They might not care but I'm thinking if the house has been repossessed and there's a fire then aren't they liable?

Any advice appreciated please

You can report to the council’s community safety team if they are behaving antisocially, and the police if they are causing damage or criminal behaviour. If they are interfering with the energy supply, you can report energy fraud: https://ukrpa.co.uk/report-energy-fraud/

If the squatters’ behaviour meets the threshold for council or police intervention then they will attempt to locate the owner of the property through e.g. Land Registry records. Ultimately, if they are peaceable and the owner doesn’t care, there’s limited action which will be taken.

It’s pretty unusual, once a lender has repossessed a property, for them to leave it unsecured and allow it to fall into disrepair and become squatted: lenders want a quick sale to recoup their losses and have a consumer duty to attempt to obtain best value - so local gossip about the repossession probably isn’t accurate, I’d forget about trying to contact a lender.

Thanks @ComtesseDeSpair

I've a copy of the land reg document and the lender still only has a charge on it. The owners are still named but I'm in NI and a local solicitor was telling me that something happened with repossessions in NI which meant that repossessions hadn't gone through or weren't being processed

Someone has contacted the owner and they say they don't own it.

Guess I'll just have to leave. Weird it's been about 4 years now that it's been empty.