Pensioner About To Be Kicked From Her Long Term Home.

[SOD'EM]

If this is in the wrong place, can a Mod please move it for me. Thank you.

 

I was crushed to hear from a friend what her Daughter and Son in Law are doing to her.

 

She bought a house 30 years ago, and was paying her Mortgage without fail. 12 years ago she fell into Financial Difficulties, and was struggling with debt, so she told her Daughter.

Her Daughter couldn't get any money at the time, and needed money herself as she wanted to get married, and was doing a degree overseas. To cut a long story short, her Daughter

applied (and got) a Mortgage to buy the house off her Mum. It was at a reduced rate so the Mortgage Payments were only £250 a month, which my friend has paid without fail for the last 12 years.

Now, her daughter has hit hard times herself and has decided to sell the house. She is not behind on the Mortgage, because my friend has not missed any payments on that. Basically, all she has done

is put her name on a Mortgage that she has not had to pay a penny towards, and is now selling her Mum's house leaving her Homeless. Can she do this?

 

I know that Legally the house his hers, but surely if her Mum can prove she has paid all the Mortgage Payments they can stop the sale. Her Daughter will just pay off the rest of the Mortgage, and then be 

quids in with the rest. My friend has only stopped crying enough to tell me that her Daughter has said that if she tries to intervene in the sale, she cannot see her Grandson (whom she adores, and has done

a lot of looking after him) anymore.

 

Please. If anybody knows any solutions?

[honeybee13]

Hi Sod'em. This sounds awful for your friend.

 

IMO, having your name on the mortgage doesn't make you the owner of the house, that would be the person named at the Land Registry, which I assume is your friend. I didn't think you could sell a property without the owner's permission, but I expect other caggers know more than I do.

 

I suppose where it gets complicated is that the loan is in the daughter's name, even though she hasn't paid the mortgage. Has she contributed towards the running of the house financially?

 

HB

[honeybee13]

For a fee of £3, anyone can check the ownership of a property at the HMRC website, Sod'em. Hopefully your friend hasn't signed over the house, this will make things clearer.

 

https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/Info.do?page=costs_one&id=p_payment_link

 

HB

[BankFodder]

It's a dreadful story. I'm afraid it is outside my area of experience – but I'm sure that there must be a constructive trust in her favour – but I'm afraid that she may be best off going to see a solicitor urgently about this.

This is not advice I usually give on this forum but it sounds a bit specialist and it sounds like an emergency.

In terms of not seeing her grandson, this threat sounds highly abusive but I'm not at all sure what can be done about it. How old is the grandson?

The daughter sounds like a very nasty piece of work

[SOD'EM]

It's an awful situation. Her Daughter was accepted for a high paying job in the NHS after graduating overseas. She moved back a week before her start date but suffered

a massive Brain Haemorrhage 2 days before she was meant to start work. She was hospitalised for a long time which ruined her career, which was the start of her facing

Financial Hardship. This was a terrible thing for her to go through (I know), but her Mum was there every step of the way. She took over the looking after of her Grandson

(which she was happy to do, so her Son In Law could go to work). He himself has just been diagnosed as Autistic, and he works as a Teacher. My friends Grandson is now

6 years old. It seems the after affects of the Brain Haemorrhage have changed her Daughters personality a lot. She has had clots removed (open Brain Surgery) recently,

and I suppose she will never be the same. A solicitor would give my friend advice, but she cannot afford one. She only gets her State Pension. 

 

It's very hard for all involved I know, but I think my friend is getting the worse of it. Much worse.

[honeybee13]

Sod-em, most solicitors will do a half hour free meeting before they or the prospective client decide what to do. Your friend could ring a local firm that has property specialists and ask if she can talk to someone.

 

The Law Society has a Find a Solicitor function where you type in your location and what speciality you need and it brings up the people who can help.

 

Find a Solicitor - The Law Society

SOLICITORS.LAWSOCIETY.ORG.UK

---

Find A Solicitor is a free service from The Law Society for anyone looking for legal services in England and Wales that are regulated by the SRA

 

HB

 

[honeybee13]

I've moved the thread to the Mortgages and Secured Loans subforum and left a link in the Repos forum.

 

HB

[SOD'EM]

21 minutes ago, honeybee13 said:

I've moved the thread to the Mortgages and Secured Loans subforum and left a link in the Repos forum.

Thank you.

[Homer67]

Grandparents have established access rights these days so I suggest your friend reads up on that and informs her daughter that should she try to stop her seeing her grandchildren she will be compelled to justify that in an investigation by Child Services.

[Ethel Street]

4 hours ago, honeybee13 said:

For a fee of £3, anyone can check the ownership of a property at the HMRC website, Sod'em. Hopefully your friend hasn't signed over the house, this will make things clearer.

 

@SOD'EMIs  your friend able to do this and find out who is the registered owner at the Land Registry?  You  have to do it online and pay £3 but you get a copy of the Land Registry ownership information instantly which you download as a pdf. If your friend is unable to do this herself would you be willing to do it for her and share with us here what it says (deleting personal details and address)?

 

This is the page you need  Property Search - Land Registry

 

Having a copy of that entry will be important to take with  her when she sees a solicitor for legal advice. 

 

As well as paying all of the mortgage has your friend also paid all the household bills and running costs?

 

I think she is very likely to have legal protection  but it's essential she finds a solicitor for an initial free advice session. 

 

And she must not move out of the house even if her daughter tells her to. Not without getting legal advice first.

 

Has the daughter siad what she expects her mother to do when the house is sold? Is she planning to just leave her on the street homeless? Or find her somewhere else to live?

[honeybee13]

Ethel, I was meaning the online check. Last time I did one it cost £3.

 

HB

[Ethel Street]

5 minutes ago, honeybee13 said:

Ethel, I was meaning the online check. Last time I did one it cost £3.

 

HB

 

So was I 

 

It still costs £3

[SOD'EM]

Thanks all for replying. It seems her daughter has offered to sell the house with a 'Sitting Tenant' as part of the deal. This is only guaranteed for 12 Months though.

She has been paying £250 a month Mortgage, and she will pay the same in rent for 12 Months. It is then when the new owners can either bump up the rent, or ask

her to leave. 12 Months isn't a long time so I can see why she is upset. As far as she knows, the Land Registry is still in her name, so basically her daughter has only

used her name to obtain a Mortgage.

[Ethel Street]

I still recommend she spends £3 to get a copy of the Land Registry entry. It's very important for her to know exactly what it says.

 

If your friend is the registered owner at the Land Registry the house cannot be sold without her consent. If the daughter isn't the registered owner she can't sell it. It's irrelevant whose name the mortgage is in.So your friend must not sign any forms about the house without getting legal advice.

 

The daughter might try and get her mother to transfer ownership to her.  Is that what was meant by "her Daughter has said that if she tries to intervene in the sale, she cannot see her Grandson"? That unless she agrees to transfer the house she'll never see her grandson again? That' something else she should tell the solicitor when she sees them. An agreeement made under duress may not be legally valid anyway.

 

Offering to let her stay there for 12 months after the sale is just adding insult to injury. It's not an offer to help your friend, it's to help the daughter raise money quickly. It would  result in your friend being thrown out of the house she's lived in for 30 years in a year's time and left on the streets by the new owner. She must not agree to it without taking legal advice.

[SOD'EM]

I've recommended she seeks legal advice, but she's scared of upsetting anyone. What makes things worse is that even though she was in Financial Trouble

12 years ago, she never fell behind on her own Mortgage Payments. That original Mortgage would have been finished last year, and the house would be hers.

Her Daughter is saying she should have been paying £400 plus per month rent when she got the Mortgage to buy the house from her. Disgusting behaviour.

My friend doesn't want everything go topsy turvy, and seems like she's about to give up and just let it happen.

[honeybee13]

She shouldn't give up and be a victim, there are things she can do.

 

As we've said, the Land Registry is a good start and it's all anonymous. Ethel and I both think it's important to know the ownership of the house.

 

Your friend may not even have to go to a lawyer, I don't know how they're working these days. But who would know she'd spoken to someone unless she tells them

 

HB

[Ethel Street]

If she won't help herself there's not much else we can advise on here. 

 

This isn't just a legal matter about property law.

 

Let's be clear, everything you've told us points to her being a vulnerable adult who is a victim of domestic abuse - financial abuse - from her daughter. That's potentially a criminal offence. It appears she is being forced into giving up her house and her legal rights by daughter using coercive threats that she will never see her grandchildren again unless she does what her daughter is directing her to do. 

 

There are other sources of help she could seek out if she won't talk to a lawyer. Citizen's Advice is one. Another is Adult Social Services at her local council. Or the police. You could make a referral to the police or social servcies if she won't.

 

You need to do some research on financial abuse of older people. These sites are helpful

 

Financial abuse | Hourglass (wearehourglass.org) There's an Hourglass helpline you could call: 0808 808 8141

 

Protect yourself and loved ones from elderly abuse | Age UK   There's an Age UK Helpline you could call - 0800 678 1174