Negitive equity with Halifax

My partner bought a house about 8 years ago, but after 5 years we had to move because the house was too small for our growing family. We were in negitive equity and couldn't afford to sell it, so we managed to rent a council house and get some friends to move into our (mortgaged) house. They have been paying us a little bit of rent (just enough to cover the mortgage payments). Since we moved out there have been enormous problems with the area, the result being that our house isn't worth the bricks it is built with (no I'm not exaggerating). Most houses in the area are boarded up or burnt out. The area is constantly in the local newspaper because of the problems and part of the next street is being knocked down by the local council because of this. Our problem is is that we still owe the Halifax about as much as we borrowed (#26,000). We simply cannot afford to pay the mortgage for there and our rent for our current home. Should we just stop paying? Halifax don't even know we have moved. Any advice at all would be grately appreciated.

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