Hi goneunder,

I wouldn't start with trawling the internet for lenders to re-mortgage with just yet. Your (LTV) Loan to Value which is the amount a lender will lend to you based on your property valuation might not be big enough to secure a re-mortgage.

I would start with speaking to your Trustee about arranging an internal valuation to ascertain the current level of equity. If it's established that your property does not have any available equity then it I can't see how this can be sold.

It could be the case that as firewalker did, you prove to your Trustee that the equity isn't what they think it is and then can then close off your Trust Deed.

If you do organise a valuation and redemption figure and it turns out that there is a large amount of equity then that's when you would need to consider what your next step is.

Thanks again for all the advice .
Had a redemption statement done and at a low estimate I would reckon there is 25000 equity in the property .
I also asked my mortgage lender for a remortgage and they refused as I was in a trust deed. Catch 22.
I have an appointment with my bank to try and obtain a personal loan . I am expecting a no but I must try. My financial situation has improved significantly and I can easily meet repayments if only I am given a chance .
If I can't raise a loan do you think the trustee would possibly consider monthly payments for a year ?
If they force the sale would I be expected to meet the costs etc if the equity is greater than what they want ? Do I get any left overs ?
Really do appreciate the support

Also is it possible to release pension funds ?

Hi goneunder.

What age are you?

What type of pension do you have?

I am 45 . I have a public sector pension. Teacher .

Hi goneunder.

In those circumstances I doubt pension release is going to be an available solution but there's nothing to stop you from making enquiries.

Would monthly payments for a year give you a chance of clearing the sum being sought by the end of that year?

Hi tda
Monthly payments wouldn't cover the total , only part .

Hi goneunder.

Your trustee is unlikely to be able to collect the equity due over an extended period of years through monthly contributions.

One reason for that is because while they remain in place some of what you're paying is covering their time-costs. This means that the creditors will eventually receive much less than if the equity is collected in a lump sum.

Extensions can and regularly do happen over a limited period of time where this is sufficient to clear the sum due, or will enable the client to come up with the lump sum required to settle the matter.

Hi goneunder,

If you anticipate that your property has in the region of £25,000 of available equity at the low end then unfortunately your Trustee is going to need to consider trying to obtain as much of this as possible.

I think you may experience the same problem applying for an unsecured loan from your bank as The Trust Deed and your credit rating will impact this.

As TDA has advised the Trustee can only consider an extension in payments for so long to ingather asset value. Ultimately the Trustee will be looking for this to be paid over ASAP.

If the property is sold and you cooperate with this then the fees involved will be a lot less than if you were to dig your heels in and resit the sale. If you did that the then the Trustee could consider legal action which would incur further costs.

If the property is sold, the Trustee will normally require the full amount of equity to repay your debts, plus statutory interest and any sale costs including their costs. If there is anything left over after this then this would be returned to you.

Have you asked for a sit down meeting with your Trustee to try and find a workable solution?

Hi ,,, sounds more like I am going to lose my home every day .
The whole reason I entered it was to save my home . If I'd gone bankrupt all those years ago I would have been well over all this !!
I haven't asked for a sit down meeting . Last year I told him I didn't want to speak to him because I found him overly Aggresive and upsetting when we spoke on the phone .
How can I now lose it ??? Five years I paid every month on the time the requested amount ! How can this be fair ????

Hi , I had the valuation done and the value of my property had fallen by £20000 since the start meaning the value matches the mortgage at the start. However as I have been in this since 2008 I have also paid £20000 to my mortgage so there is still £20000 equity !!!
Am I being stupid to think they should be using the mortgage amount at the start ???
If that was the case with the decrease in value then I would owe nothing . What do you think ?

Just thinking .
Some people say they pay £500 to protect their equity. Does this only apply if you have no equity at the start ?
Surely then if you have zero equity at the start but pay your mortgage for four years whilst in the trust deed you would have equity after four years ???
This 500 pound thing was not around when I started .
Am I being conned ? I being chased for more money because I have paid my mortgage over the last six years . And these payments have created equity. Surely I should not be penalised because I have paid the mortgage ???

Hi goneunder.

The £500 is a red herring here for several reasons. Firstly it's just an agreement that there's no equity in the home at the start of the trust deed and that this will not be reviewed later. Secondly this agreement can just as properly be made without the payment of £500. Thirdly it (the agreement) will only have been available if there was no equity at the start.

There needs to be a single point of time at which the equity in a property is assessed. What that point of time is will have been, in the past, agreed with the trustee at the start. If there's any confusion about what that point of time agreed was for you the trustee should be able to clarify it for you.

So your property might have been assessed for equity at the start - the valuation as it was then minus the mortgage balance as it was then.

Or your trustee might be making that assessment now. Valuation of the property today minus mortgage balance today.

I'm afraid I cannot see any likelihood of using an new valuation with an old mortgage balance (or vice versa).

Hi goneunder,

The equity should have been established at the start of your Trust Deed by carrying out a valuation and obtaining a redemption figure for your mortgage. I assume that this was done and it resulted in £22,000 of available equity. It's on this basis that your Trustee is considering the possible sale of your house. Even although you have paid your mortgage for the last 6 years it's all still based on the equity at the start of your Trust Deed.

It unfortunately works both ways with regards to an updated valuation and outstanding mortgage balance. You can't use a lower valuation at today's date but rely on the mortgage balance at the start of the Trust Deed. If the up to date position was that actually your property does not have any available equity then it would be difficult for your Trustee to consider the sale. It sounds like your property still has equity available.

In my experience when you present someone with the possibility of losing their home it's just not an option for them. In the opinion of your Trustee they felt that they would be able to secure a re-mortgage and clear off the amount of equity in your property. If this had worked then you would have cleared all of your unsecured debt and retained the property which was the ideal scenario.

Back well before the ÔÇ£credit crunchÔÇØ if someone had a large amount of equity and a large amount of unsecured debts and didn't like the idea of a DAS or an alternative option due to the length of time, they would enter into the Trust Deed on the same basis that you did - That any available equity would be paid over by a re-mortgage or third party at the end. We would make it extremely clear in writing that if they failed to pay this sum over, we would need to consider the sale of the property and it was then up to the client to decide what they wanted to do. Was anything like this ever discussed with you or set out in writing about the possible consequences of not being able to secure a re-mortgage and pay over the equity?

Have you spoken with your mortgage company and asked for a redemption figure at today's date? This can sometimes be more than what your annual outstanding mortgage balance is.

The £500 property payment can only be paid at the start if it's confirmed that the property has no available equity. Some firms charge it and some don't. For as long as I've worked in Insolvency for many firms the £500 payment was around. That's going back the last 11 years. I think you've probably not been made aware of this by your Trustee as your property had £22,000 of available equity and therefore it would not apply.

How much was the total debt that you entered into the Trust Deed with and how much have you paid to date?

I'm sorry I'm not able to provide you with better advice or the reassurance that you won't lost your home. Unfortunately if you had equity at the start of your Trust Deed and there is still available equity at today's date then the Trustee needs to try and obtain this or consider the sale.

Thanks again for the advice and support . I think I have been clutching at straws with my previous post .
At the start my equity was discussed . I was told that I shouldn't worry at all about the equity as given my job I would have no problem getting a remortgage to pay the equity off . I had no family to contribute so remortgage would be the only option. The trustee was totally confident . Stating no problem at all . So equity was discussed , and my trust deed states I would seek a remortgage to pay it off.
This is no longer possible as lenders changed their position and I cannot remortgage til I have been out of the trust deed for a year.
I now have an excellent credit rating but. Cannot borrow til next year as defaults were put on over a year after the trust deed was set up. I have contacted these lenders to try and sort this out. But this was only recent as I was unaware of the impact . I also tho gut my trustee would have sorted any issues out here. Even two years after the trust deed was set up one lender in particular took me to court . There wS no case to answer but again did the trustee fail to communicate effectively with this company .
From the stats it now looks like the trustee will gain the greatest proportion of what I have contributed over the six years . The creditors will get scraps even if I can raise the full amount of equity required . The beneficiary being the trust deed company . Even when during the six years there were times when their only action was sending me the yearly summary of contributions .
So the trustee selling my house will be pennies for each creditor .
Frustrating and heartbreaking !