Right... I came on here to answer the questions regarding how long repossession takes, can they take my car etc. I DO NOT want a lecture on how I should manage my life. Have you not read my other posts? In response to your 'advice': My credit record is already 'trashed'. I have defaulted credit cards etc and couldn't even get a pay day loan because my credit is that bad. So no, having this debt doesn't bother me whilst I'm travelling. Me concider my priorities? My ex has ran off and left me with this for over 3 years. I think it's about time I 'ran away' from it and left him to pick up the sh*t for once. Sell the house... Please see previous post. Why should I sell MY car which I need for work purposes while my ex sits on his arse in a 4 bed detached house with two brand new cars on the drive while I pay for OUR JOINT debts. This is NOT an option to sell my car, plus it's only worth around £500-600 - hardly worth it concidering I need it for work!!!!! Do you know what is happening to the housing market at present?! We brought our house in 2006 which was when the housing market peaked. Houses now are not selling for what they were in 2006. The house down the road was fine in comparison to mine, on par. I had 3 estate agents round who valued the house between £87-£92k. The tenants would not be willing to pay anymore, and I can't say that an extra £10 a month would make much of a difference. Anyway, I've got my answers from this site from newstarter, so thank you for your help. Can't say a lot about the others!!! Thank you for your lovely advice, but it's going straight into the bin....

No, that's okay. I understand that you are offering me advice. It's just that it's all getting too much and people keep telling me how stupid I was to buy a house so young and that it's my problem now and I need to sort it out by paying my mortgage! Even the mortgage company have practically said that to me... I can't believe the way they behave. Would it benefit me if I turned up in court? Could I tell them I've tried and tried to maintain the mortgage and property? Would it go against my ex? I asked my ex to pay half of the shortfall each month and to co-operate with me, but I've heard nothing. And don't want to be struggling whilst I'm travelling and having to keep working to fund the shortfall. There's also other things like landlord certificates, maintanance of the house whilst I'm away, if any of the white goods break. It seems one thing after another, after another. If I was away travelling for 2 years and came back, if I left my bank account at my parents address and moved elsewhere, renting a room from a friend or from someone who would pay the bills and I'd just pay them a set amount, how likely would it that I would be 'found' if I had absolutely no credit at that address? Can you be caught out when you work or from the DVLA records? Also, if when I come back I decide to study at college for a year and then onto University for 3-4 years and didn't work, just used my bursaries, would the mortgage company be able to try and take any of this to repay the money from the repossession? And, one last question! I currently own a car. Should I transfer the ownership over to my mum? (I will be selling it in April 2011 anyway). Could they try and take my car towards payments of the debts on my house?

I have no physical way of contacting him via phone. I have an address for him which I'm not even sure if it's correct and have his parent's address - which is the one I've been writing to. I don't have any phone numbers for him and haven't heard him since he walked out 3.5 years ago. He has a lot of debt, from what I believe, credit cards/loans etc so I think he switches his phone number quite a bit so I have lost all telephone contact with him. What you suggest going to his parent's house? If I turned up at the court hearing, what would be the benefits of this? Thank you...

Thank you for your answers to my questions. I know that I shouldn't have been renting it out, but if I hadn't have, it would have been repo'd long ago. At the time when my ex left, I only brought in £800 a month and my mortgage payment was £600 + bills. So my only option was to rent it. It is physically impossible to get any money out of my ex. I have even written to his parents stating the problems and they are not even willing to help. There is no way possible we can sell the house. It could take months and months to sell and there would still be around 10k shortfall on the mortgage, not including solicitor and estate agent fees. I believe if we did try to sell it, the mortgage company would have to agree with the sale and agree to how we would pay back the shortfall. I would be completely left with this as my ex would refuse to pay a penny, and it wouldn't suprise me if he even quit his job to try and get out of paying anything... Apparently, I've been advised the outstanding debt can't just be split 50/50 and that even if I paid off my half, I would still be liable for the other half. And while it was going through the sale, what would happen if my tenants left as they didn't want to be living in a property knowing they'd have to move out soon. I would have no way of paying my £600 a month mortgage payments... So it would get repossessed anyway? I see the only option as to let the house get repossessed. I have asked my mortgage company in the past, when I was stuggling, to help me and they wouldn't offer anything. The woman on the phone told me "if you can't afford to pay your mortgage, you can't afford to live there." They won't put me onto interest only as I have no repayment vehicle and I physically don't want to pay another penny into the property. I really, really, really can't see any other way out of this. Unless anyone has any great ideas! I understand about the debt I'll be left with etc and really, really don't have the energy for people to lecture me on this... I brought the house when I was 19, made a stupid mistake and yes, I'm now paying for it while my ex swans off with his new girlfriend 2 kids + 4 step kids and a free house which is paid for by her ex!!! While I'm left here trying my damn hardest to pick up the peices and work out a way to sort this mess out.

I've just come across this site and wondered if anyone could help answer a few questions. I have no idea whether I have posted this in the correct forum as I've found the site quite complicated to understand where to post things... Basically, I brought a house with my ex 4.5 years ago. We split up 3.5 years ago and he just walked out, leaving me with the house, to pay the mortgage and keep up maintanence on the property. Since he left, I have spent thousands on mortgage payments etc. I moved back in with my parents and have since been renting the house out, paying money into the shortfall each month. The bank don't offer buy-to-let mortgages (yorkshire building society) and even if they did, my ex is refusing to sign or acknowledge anything. I have decided to go travelling in 2011 and will no longer be able to afford to pay the shortfall from the rental income and my ex is refusing to even answer my letters. If I miss 2 months mortgage payments (as already have 1 month arrears), I believe the mortgage company will apply for repossession. Can they change the locks on the house before the court has honnored the repo? How long, realistically, do you think I can let me tennants live there for? Obviously, I understand that they can't live there for 6 months longer or anything, but if I give them 2 months notice in the new year, would this give them enough time to move out before any action is taken against the house? What would happen if I did let them stay there longer; how would they know about the repo? 3 mortgage payments will have been missed on 1st February. And if the house will get repo'd anyway, and my ex doesn't give a damn, then I don't want to pay the rent to my mortgage company as want to reclaim some of the money I've paid into the house and for the money I put down as a deposit. Also, if I'm out of the country travelling for the next 2 years, what sort of mess will I come back to if I ignore all letters from debtors? (I also have about 10k of loans and credit cards which I racked up to afford to live in the house when my ex left). Thank you for any help, and hope I haven't waffled on too much Just to add, our mortgage is for £101k and recently, a house down the road sold for £92k, so will deffy be in negative equity.