www.iva.co.uk

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while and everything had been going very well until my now ex wife gave me notice in a text message that she was going to stop making contributions toward our still joint mortgage.
She became pregnant out of wedlock after leaving and now "cannot afford" to make payments as the baby has arrived (Teacher on 30k!)

The house is jointly owned at 50% stake each...

I heard that in extreme circumstances the house can be handed back to the mortgage company (in our case NRAM and second charge with another lender).
The house is in negative equity by about 20k so there will be no great loss...

How would we start the process? Is it just about putting the house on the market and then including the shortfall in the IVA?

Your comments/advice are most welcome.

I can't offer any answers I am afraid but wanted to bump it back for the experts to see later ...

It might be possible to include a shortfall in your IVA. Is this IVA solely in your name or do you have an IVA each ? If the ex isn't in an IVA the mortgage lender will pursue your ex for the debt, even though it is included in your IVA.

You need to speak to the secured charge holders as they will need to agree to remove their charges. Also speak to your IP to see what the implications would be for the IVAs. The shortfalls will be captured but there may be minimum dividend requirements or other concerns.

Not sure I follow the logic of the secured lenders removing their charges - but if I have missed something fundamental please put that down to jet lag (I's using that excuse for at least another week!)

What you will need to do is exercise a voluntary surrender of the property and therefore hand it back to the mortgagee who will then proceed to sell. Their charges will not be removed until the sale has taken place, and then any resultant shortfall will form an additional claim in the IVA.

Is it just you in the IVA or does your wife have one as well?

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Yes Melanie, My ex wife also has an IVA - I've been advised that because the property is under a 12 month rental contract until July, there'll be no movement until after that.
Went to see the solicitor this morning too, they suggest I may have to take it to the magistrates court to get her to start paying her half.

The banks may allow you to sell the property for less than is owing as you should get a better price than they would as mortgagees in possession. However, you would need to have agreement with them beforehand that they will remove their charges and allow the sale to complete. Otherwise you could have incurred costs and a lost sale.