Welcome to the trust deed forum Glasbor.

This sounds like good news for you. Some firms do charge £500 to exclude the property from the trust deed where there is little or no equity (and some firms, like those that post here, do this without charge).

I'd suggest that you or your solicitor contact the trustee soon to confirm what needs to happen to ensure a smooth sale for you when the time comes.

Thank you - that's really helpful

Hi Glasbor

It's slightly more complicated unfortuantely. Do you know if any equity will be released once the sale takes place? If so the Trustee may seek 50% of this or indeed may settle for the £500 if that was agreed at the start. If the house is in the process of being sold, I would think he may look at what equity will be released and seek half of it as the Tustee will require to sign the disposition before the sale goes through.

It may be that the Trustee will agree to the £500 payment, but best check.

Mark

Hi Mark and Glasbor,

I really only meant that it was good news in respect that there appears to be little or no equity. I was thinking back to the awful thread we had a little while ago where a member has been separated from her husband for many years and he had avoided tackling the property issue and subsequently signed a trust deed when there was a lot of equity in their, still, jointly owned property.

Glasbor - do you expect a profit from the sale?

I think the problem the Trustee faces is that the property, subject to TD valuation and redemption can show no equity and the position remains as is till the end of the Trust Deed. If the property is sold and there is equity released then the 'heritage' changes in effect to cash and therefore without prior payment etc, the Trustee will likely seek 50%.

Hopefully it will work out fine.

Mark

I got the impression from Glasbor's post that the £500 had already been paid, but may be jumping to conclusions there. If it has been then I'd say that there's a case for arguing that the trustee's interest has already been bought out.

I'd agree with Mark though. There is a good chance that the trustee may seek half of any net proceeds from the sale. If £500 has been paid already then at the very least they should deduct this from that total first.

Many thanks for all your thoughts on this.

Equity split on court order dated a year before he took out the trust deed is 60% to me and the children - 40% to ex-husband.

However there will be no equity from sale, which will be for the redemption value + sale costs. The new owner will let me and the children carry on living in the property and I pay rent to the new owner.

I am forced into this position as ex-husband took lower paid job after signing trust deed and dropped maintenance payments to the children from £400 per month down to £170 per month.

I have checked English land registry today and there is no charge on land registry to trust deed firm.

It all feels like such a dreadful and difficult mess.

Glasbor

I hope this is not alarming but you need to make sure the purchaser is a company registered to offer Sale And Rent Back or SARB

It is a type of purchase I have transacted previously but there is very strict regulation of the process now because a few very unscrupulous operators very badly mistreated tenants soon after they'd bought their home from them and 'allowed' them to rent it back.

Huge rent increases, notice to Quit soon after 1st 6 month tenancy expires, failing to pay the mortgage and becoming bankrupt themselves, the tenant has no protection or help with alternative housing on repossession.

I have of course outlined examples of worst practice but if you're not already fully committed, please do check on their registration. It is now a serious offence to offer it in marketing material, posters, websites etc if they are not registered.

At best, you'll be reassured and happy going forward with the arrangement.

Hi Glasbor.

The lack of equity appears to be in your favour.

Are you selling to a "sale and rent back" firm?

(Link to FSA Sale and Rent Back Information removed)

The link above is incomplete as I know we can't post links-the rest is below at the end of this comment, but I hope it gives you enough to do your own checks. It is potentially very important.

(Link to FSA Information on Sale and Rent Back Removed)

Above link split again, you'll need to put it together, [:)]
FSA update on Feb 2012 stating the status of current companies with authorisation is such that the practice is effectively 'temporarily stopped'

(Links to Citizens Advice information about Sale and Rent Back Removed)

Finally-from CAB outlining almost all firms ceased to offer Sale and Rent Back. Split link again.

Hope you can use it to inform yourself andask the questions you need answered.

TDA, apologies if this is not ok to post like this (links split)

There are few if any sale and rent back firms now authorised, I'm checking.

It is a real shame because lots of one-off mutually beneficial arrangements made over the last few years cannot now be done as a result of sharp practice, mainly by organisations who had little knowledge of or concern for the person facing financial difficulty.

Done ethically, it was a good solution but is largely unavailable now.

Thank you for your cautions and helpful information about SARB. The sale would be to a private individual at my church.

I have spoken to the trust deed firm - they say that even though £500 was paid (or is owed) I have to contact their equity department about the proposed sale, which they would need to approve. They obviously, and quite rightly, want to make sure that there is no equity that they might claim towards ex-husband's debt. So, it's just a word of caution to people really, payment of £500 to exclude the property from the trust deed - in situations like mine, may not exclude the property after all.

However, the English land registry (entry checked yesterday) shows no charge, inhibition or other restriction in respect of the trust deed firm. The trust deed firm told me that any inhibition on the property would be listed on the Scottish register of inhibitions. I explained that the property is in England and no charge to the trust deed shows on the land registry, which really seemed to throw them.

So if there turns out to be no inhibition on the property, surely the trust deed firm just need to sign the disposition at the time of sale and have no other involvement/interest?