Hi weemee

If you aren't yet discharged then the trustee will need to agree to the sale as there will be an inhibition in place. So they will need to be satisfied that it is being marketed properly and that its market value is being achieved.

Whatever is left over after the settlement of the mortgage and the costs of the sale would then go into the Trust Deed.

Have you tried hurrying the trustee along? Just making yourself a nuisance may be enought to get them to prioritise your discharge.

thanks for your reply Kevin. does the payment of an abandonment fee change this ? yes i have had several attempts to hurry knightsbridge up but with no results, it just seems to be fob off story after fob off story. my fear is that i become too much of a nuisance, they may dig their heels in on providing me with my discharge (form 5). are there amy other avenues that could be explored with regards to forcing the form 5 issue ?

Hi weemee.

I don't believe that the payment of an abandonment fee does change this I'm afraid.

I'm not aware of any other route to secure a quicker discharge. If there's a pressing reason why you want or need this to happen quickly then communicating that regularly to the firm seems entirely reasonable.

thanks for your reply TDA, so what it the purpose of the abandonment fee ? does this only. come into affect after my form 5 discharge?

Hi weemeee.

That fee was charged by some firms to avoid a revaluation of a property (with little/no equity) later in a trust deed when equity might have developed. I'm guessing this is what applies to your case.

If a property were actually sold at a profit however (before discharge) the trustee would still have an interest. So I guess you could look at the fee as being some kind of insurance for someone who didn't plan to sell their home prior to discharge.

Equity is all sorted out upfront these days - based upon the asset value at the start.

my head is in a spin with it all. i was hoping to possibly put my house on the market and hope that my discharge (form 5) would be issued before the date of sale/entry. would the equity still be taken even when it would all be getting used in the purchase of a new property?

Hi weemeee.

If your trustee felt obligated to recover this money for your creditors, the associated purchase would not be of interest to them.

We can only advise you to continue pressing for your discharge, and to not sell your home until after you have been discharged.

We have obtained legal advice on this matter before. If the trustee has accepted a nominal payment at the start of the process or during the process then arguably they have received payment with the intention they would relinquish interest in the property and would therefore not be entitled to proceeds from sale.

Although as you are so near receiving your discharge, I would recommend continuing to press for your discharge.

Hope this helps.

Unfortunately, the word "arguably" is well chosen and if it came to it then your trustee may well feel they have a good chance of winning that argument. Waiting until discharge would seem to be the sensible choice if possible.

It really should be a formality that can be done very quickly and I don't see how they can justifiably dig their heels in to be honest.

Thanks for your replies Sharon and Kevin. I wasn’t sure if the abandonment fee meant that trustee was taking the payment to abandon the trustees interest in the property. I have been on the phone most of today with knightsbridge and they are currently at the point of waiting on only one creditor getting back to them with their final claim amount. He could tell me that the creditor has been given till the 12 june to complete and submit their final figures and will be excluded if not done by that date. the creditor will then possibly have 14days to appeal the decision of being excluded. I was also informed that the equity in my property wouldn’t be taken after my form 6 was received but would still be taken if i sold my property before the form 6 issue. the aslo said that the form 6 would be issued 60days from the issue of form 5.

Well... we know firms go about things in different ways.

I think most firms would conclude they could discharge you while they go about dealing with creditor details like this.

I think many would be happy for you to sell the property once you’ve been discharged. You’ve completed your obligations at that point, and the inhibition preventing a sale without trustee consent should be gone.

Sorry that this information will be frustrating for you. It’s not the first time recently we’ve heard about the same two issues causing frustration for customers of certain firms.

it’s very frustrating indeed. To have completed all monthly payments without defaulting and cooperating with every request from the trustee over the past four years for then the goalposts to be moved further away just as you make the final payment, is depressing and saddening. i’m hoping this will end with my discharge very very soon. thanks for the advice