My partners ex husband took out a mortgage with abbey national 24 years ago ,

my partner moved in and her ex was working away

, they split a year later and he emigrated,

my partner carried on paying the mortgage from her bank not knowing it was an interest only mortgage, the lump sum is now due and we haven’t got it ,

we’ve phoned Santander and because of data protection they won’t discuss it with her , she has lost touch with her ex and all we know is he is in the USA somewhere,

what can we do ?

They won’t tell us if they are going to repossess the house or not

Start looking for somewhere else to buy or rent and move out...she is not liable for the mortgage... not party to the agreement...only the EX

Andy

We’d like to keep the house , it’s a shared ownership that she owns 60% of , would they agree to mortgage the arrears and take his name off the mortgage?

So her name is on the mortgage agreement ?

No Andy , Santander say they can’t find her on the agreement despite her paying them nearly £40k over the last 24 years

Didn't think so...so she has effectively been paying the mortgage for the ex for the last 24 years...she has no legal claim to the property.Plus side is she is not liable for the capital when they do repossess...they will go after the ex...if they can trace him.

Will they go for repossession or try to work something out with us ? If they would I wondered if they would add the original amount (approx 31000) and add it to the other 40%in effect giving me an approx £80000 mortgage over 15 years ?

You would have to speak to Santander and inquire.... firstly could you get a mortgage and secondly explain what has happened...but from a Legal point...she does not exist...not on the mortgage...not with the land registry...in effect she has been squatting for the last 24 years...may be prudent to consult a Solicitor before even approaching Santander...possible rights as common law wife....and as already advised start looking for alternative accommodation.

They will want the Capital at the end of the term and they will repossess if not paid.

Thanks Andy , they’ve asked us to write to them giving all the information we have

Lets hope they will be prepared to add her to the mortgage account in view of her payments history...I would still check it out with a Solicitor and secure you legal position.

Just a bit of an update ,

we were digging around in the loft trying to find old paperwork and we came across some paper from abbey national with my partners and her ex’s name on them regarding the %rate for first time buyers that they both had to sign ,

yet Santander say they can’t find a trace of her ,

could there have been a clerical error when abbey national were taken over ?

I understand it doesn’t alter the fact that we owe them the £30k initial sum

Well at least she is on the paperwork...so thats a positive.....now you can start to negotiate options to extend or refinance

Thanks for your help and advice Andy , she’s on the form that I mentioned and on the house insurance also issued by abbey national

Might be worthwhile doing a check on the The Land Registry also to see if shes on the deeds.

I never thought of that , thanks andy

She is down as co owner with her ex on the land registry with Santander as the owners

Excellent.....now see what Santander are prepared to offer.

Most are only able to offer a further 7 years max extension if you were to convert it to Interest and Capital...so you may have to look at a total remortgage elsewhere

Once again thank you , I really appreciate your help and advice

My partners spoken to Santander this afternoon and they’re still saying they can find no trace of her ,what I don’t understand is if they have no trace where have the payments been going to and why has it taken them 25 years to try and make contact with her ex ? Surely they’d have tried to reposses the house before now ? They said the land Registry is no proof she has a mortgage with them even though they’re named as lenders on the document with her name on it

Can they find trace of the account...and where and from who the payments have been coming from ?

You have the statement with both names and account number informing you of an interest increase.

The Land Registry is conformation of joint ownership of the property...which their mortgage is secured against...which they are named as lenders to the names on the deed.

There was a lot of information lost when Santander merged with Abbey National...we see it all the time on Bank Accounts and Credit cards.

https://www.google.com/search?q=a+lot+of+information+lost+when+Santander+merged+with+Abbey+National&oq=a+lot+of+information+lost+when+Santander+merged+with+Abbey+National&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

They’ve asked to take all the information we have to a branch and they will fax it to the main department, the problem we have is that we don’t know what’s going on as they won’t talk to her , there has been no mail for her ex delivered to the house , the first we knew of a problem was when someone from s company called resolve came to the door looking for her ex , for all we know they could reposses the property next week when we are away on holiday