I bought into this house 12 years ago with a friend. afther three years the friend left leaving the mortgage in arrears. I have struggled since as a single parent to keep the house but continued to be in arrears. The fleeing friend no longer lives in the country so I heard, and has not paid anything towards the mortgage for 9 years.

The lenders Bank of Ireland have not been particularily happy about the situation, and are about to go to court for a third time. I'm now in between jobs - doing part time work and have applied for help rom the DSS, but this still leaves a great shortfall in the monthly mortgage payments expected by them.

I no longer have an endowment linked to the property- this was cashed some years ago, and I no have a dependant son to look after.

I recently had the house valued which was double the amount we bought in at. And I cannot get a further loan secured to the house becvause the co owner is not around. i'M AT A LOST WHAT TO DO. i'M ALSO WAITING TO HEAR ABOUT BECOMING A FOSTER PARENT BASED IN THIS HOUSE TOO- pLUS WORKING WITH A SALARY OF 20,000 PA. BUT THIS IS 6-8WEEKS AWAY???????????

-- M. Spence (madalark@aol.com.), September 03, 2000

Answers

Dont Panic is the first thing......No Judge will grant possession if there is the slightest chance of u maintaining the payments, plus a small amount off the arrears. Have you considered asking the Bank to Consolidate the mortgage....... Roll the arrears into the capital owed and base the new monthly payment on this figure, thereofre avoiding the higher payment trying to pay off the arrears. BEst of luck.....Ive been there but didnt have the support of sites like this.....my repo was back in 92 and the net wasnt so well populated .....Lee hadnt as far as I am aware started this site.... Dont give up!!!

-- Dave McLaughlin (Dave@macker15.f9.co.uk), June 12, 2001.

That the Bank of Ireland are about to go to court for the third time doesn't bode well. Neither does the fact that you've cashed in the endowment which is supposed to pay off the mortgage at the end of the term. If you are able to keep the house and pay the mortgage once you're in work, how do you intend to pay the capital at the end of the term?

Not having the co-owner around does cause a problem for you. I would suggest that you see a solicitor about this and find out what to do. That the co-owner has been gone for 9 years might be significant.

Prepare yourself well for court. Do the usual, dress smartly etc and bring documentation with you, proofs of income, job offers etc, so that you can show the judge this is just a short lapse in fortunes.

A solicitor or other advisor with experience in these matters will be able to give you a good idea of what your chances are. As the house is worth double what you paid, it might be worth selling and buying somewhere else.

-- pendle (pendle@amun-ra.demon.co.uk), June 12, 2001.