Hi uniao73 and welcome.

The property should all be sorted out in writing before you sign, including valuations. So long as your trustee is prepared to rely on a valuation that says there's no equity in your property, and you've got that in writing, all is likely to be fine.

You don't need to pay £500. Lots of firms (including those represented here by Mark, Kevin, David and Rob) do the exact same thing without charging £500.

What they're doing is saying that so long as you stick to the terms of the trust deed the valuation will not be revisited at the end. You could choose to pay £500 for that, or £0 with a different firm.

Once you're discharged you can sell the home and keep any profits.

Thank you for the reply TDA, so the £500 won't make a difference?

Hi uniao73

As TDA says, this is something which some firms will do. Personally if you try & follow the logic, it makes no sense.

Like many other posts on the subject, if the property has no value then you should ensure that that is the final position and that gives you peace of mind that the property is not involved.

The house still remains the biggest single issue in trust deeds and it is important that this is dealt with at the start and the position agreed before doing anything.

Mark

Hi uniao73,

Well done on taking steps to try and deal with your financial difficulties.

A firm shouldn't need to get "a few" valuations and then say if your pay £500 the home will be protected by the lower of the valuations. Your right not to feel confident in this approach.

As Mark said the property is the single biggest asset in a Trust Deed and everyone's biggest concern. Before entering into a Trust Deed you want the company you are dealing with to arrange a proper valuation and for you to provide a redemption/settlement figure for your mortgage. From this it can be determined if you're property has equity or not. If it doesn't then it' should be confirmed in writing that they will have no interest in it and it's protected. As TDA has said the firms on the forum don't charge the £500. We use DM Hall, Graham & Sibbald and JE Shepperds for our valuations.

The best thing to do is sit down with a couple of advisors in person and not over the phone, discuss your circumstances in full and then proceed with the advisor that you feel most comfortable with. Your going to be dealing with that advisor for the next couple for years so you need to be happy with everything. The most important thing is to get everything in writing regarding your payments, timescale and what happens with any of your assets. If you do all of that then the Trust Deed should be very straight forward. don't feel rushed into anything.

Can you give us an idea of your situation and we can give you some advice on your options.

The positive thing to remember is that there are solutions to the difficulties you are haviing at the moment.

Hi Mark

This seems quite confusing that some will charge money because something doesn't have any value. Why do some firms look for payment and others don't?

Hi niceadvice

Don't get me started on this issue. There have been posts previously where property was in 3 names and the trustee was looking for £1500!!

It dates back to sequestration when we used to record title to a property and the at the end have the interest discharged. The £500 was to cover the legal costs. I think if you examined the last 5000 trust deed cases, you'd be lucky to find one where this actually happened!

Mark

Hi niceadvice.

It's perfectly legitimate to charge this £500.

You just have to ask, as a consumer, why would you expose yourself to this cost if you could avoid it by choosing a different firm?

Thanks everybody, I will contact for more advice of the forum :_