Hi TDA,

I have always known from the start of the TD that my home could be re-valued at the end of the TD if I did not pay the nominal fee. Myself and my partner chose not to pay this due to there being in excess of £2000 negative equity in the property when it was valued at the start of the TD and we both felt that there would be no equity at the end of the TD either, therefore no point in paying the £500. Even if there is equity at the end, I would be quite happy for the IP to sell the property and take any surpluss funds from the sale. I doubt very much though, that there will be any equity in the property - even in 2 years time when my TD finishes.

I am definately going to write to or e-mail the trustee personally and I told the girl dealing with my case this.

Hi dm29

I would agree entirely with TDA and Mark, this all sounds very aggressive and unneccessary. The only other thing i would point out is that Trust Deeds are supervised by the Accountant in Bankruptcy, so you can always ask them for advise.

Hi Shona and thanks for the advise.

I received all the paperwork I requested from the trustee today regarding the nominal fee.

The trustee has written a letter stating:-

As per your conversation with my colleague, I enclose a copy of the letter to yourself requesting the £500 nominal payment which must be paid to your trust deed to release my interest in the above property. I have also enclosed the estimated state of affairs which you have signed, showing the £500 to be made under freehold land and property. I also refer to the telephone conversations on 23/12/09 and 14/01/10 between your partner and my colleague with regards to the nominal payments. These conversations fully note your partners understanding of the payments and outline a proposal from your partner for a 3rd party to make these payments over a few months. I would confirm that our calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes.

Enclosed with this is a letter dated 27/11/09, which states:-

Your property has been valued at £70,000 and your mortgage and secured loan redemption figure is £69,592.60. After taking into consideration additional costs, there is no reasonable equity in your home, at this time. In order to release my interest, as trustee, in your property at the end of your Trust Deed you are required to pay a nominal sum of £500 by 29/01/10. Please note however, that despite this payment should you wish to sell this property during your Trust Deed any equity that may be realised will require to be paid into your trust deed. Please note all payments as regards your equity must be from a third party (such as a family member or friend) and cannot be made from your own funds. Should you be unable to have this payment made then I will retain my interest in your property and any equity will be re-assessed at the end of your trust deed. This would be based on an updated independent professional property valuation, which may have increased.

Can anyone please advise where I stand with this?

Hello dm29.

The following seems to be the interesting passage which pretty much represents what we would typically assume would be the case:

"Should you be unable to have this payment made then I will retain my interest in your property and any equity will be re-assessed at the end of your trust deed. This would be based on an updated independent professional property valuation, which may have increased".

To me that just says you can have the £500 paid and not worry about the equity any more, or it isn't paid and the property will be revalued at the end of the trust deed (with the risk that equity may have developed that needs to be paid over).

There's no talk about wage arrestments or bankrupty there.

Perhaps you could write to your Trustee just to confirm that this is the case to reassure yourself?

Is your mortgage interest only or on a repayment basis?

Thanks TDA,

That's exactly what I thought. Nor does it mention that if a 3rd party doesn't pay it by the end of the TD then I will be liable to pay it myself.

My mortgage is repayment. At the moment I still owe around £69,000, would have to pay a redemption fee of around £3,000 due to my fixed rate not being up until oct 2012 and would also have legal expenses. The flat was valued again in feb this year at £65,000.

Hopefully all is OK then dm29?

Hope so TDA.

I am going to e-mail the trustee to see where I stand with this.

Will keep you all updated.

Hi dm29

I would agree with TDA. If you have not paid the £500 by the date said, or by the end of the TD, then the Trustee can have the property revalued. It would appear that is not an issue as you house is worth less now than it was then. Can I just ask if you instrucetd the valuation carried out, or was it instructed by your trustee? I would hate them to come in with a higher valuation later on.

Hi Shona,

The initial valuation was instructed by the trustee, I got the 2nd valuation done myself in jan/feb of this year.

Hi dm29

Ok, well hopefully their valuation will come back much the same. Keep us posted.