Do buiding society"s have a legal duty to obtain the best possible price when selling a\reposessed property

thanx Julie

-- julie spencer (julie@thecarepractice.co.uk), September 23, 2002

Answers

As far as I am aware, lenders should attempt to seek the best price for properties under the Mortgage Code of Practice. Sometimes however this is not the case and lenders tend to put their interests above those of their customers and sell the properties off for a lower cost to get a "quick sale" and then chase the greater shortfall.

I am in disupte with the Halifax at present for underselling a property for quick sale and am awaiting a decision from the Ombudsman.

Try and obtain proof if the lender has sold your property at a loss

-- Kaveh Damestani (kdamestani@staveley.co.uk), September 24, 2002.

According to CAB information;

the bank has a "duty of care" towards the client when selling the property. This means that the lender must get the best price that can be reasonably obtained at the point at which it sells the property. However, in practice, lenders often sell properties at auctions for less than would if sold on the open market.

A lender who sells a property without due care could be sued for negligence. However, this has never (apparently) been tested in the courts. There may also be a claim for negligence against the estate agent used by the lender, but this can be very difficult to prove.

-- Ric Johns (Ducatiric@yahoo.co.uk), October 29, 2002.

The estate agent who sold my place told me to my face that they were instructed to "get rid of it asap and take whatever they could get." They dismissed my allegations of underhand dealings and failing to get best price. They even ignored written instructions from me that it (the repossession) was being contested and that as there was a dispute over the property they could not yet sell it. They did - within days, to a friend of the agents, so I later found out. It was even advertised in the paper as a repo - all of which was ignored by the solicitors on both sides when I questioned the shortfall. I have never seen details of the marketing/viewings/offers as the estate agents per se don't exist any more. The Lender refused to even discuss it.

-- Too scared to say (iwasduped@yahoo.com), October 29, 2002.