Hi SuzHamilton
I'm not surprised you are worried and confused. Before your trust deed was even signed, your equity should have been calculated by the IP firm and an agreement made as to how it would be dealt with.
As you say, it is pretty much impossible these days to get a remortgage at the end of a trust deed, so usually people are extending the term of their trust deeds instead, in order to "pay off" their equity by instalments.

This is only really viable if you can afford to do so - though there shouldn't be any further valuations done further down the line. As you rightly say, you might never get clear of the trust deed if that was the case.

You could tell your trustee that you would rather just sell and realise the equity that way, and ask them to make arrangements to do this. They may do this for you, or alternatively I have a suspicion that they might suddenly be open to negotiating payment by you of a smaller sum then they have previously identified in order to avoid the uncertainties associated with selling.

You will not be discharged until the property equity is dealt with one way or the other though I am afraid.

Welcome to the trust deed forum SuzHamilton.

Where there is equity in a property the trustee must deal with it, something that should have been fully explained to you before you signed the trust deed.

Remortgaging isn't likely to be possible, it's quite some time since we heard from anyone that was able to raise the equity in their propertty for their protected trust deed in this way.

Some people are lucky enough to have someone that can help with a lump sum. I do appreciate that this will not be the case for most people.

You could seek to sell the property once your contributions have been completed. You wouldn't be discharged until that had happened but I'd expect that the monthly contributions might stop if the home were on the market.

The other option is the extension. In this instance the trustee should be looking for a fixed sum rather than the amount further increasing in the future. For example, if they tell you the sum is £7000 and you pay £200 per month (because it is calculated that this is how much you can afford) it would take 35 months to finish and then get discharged thereafter.

Many thanks for your replies

I shall call my trustee re selling the property and see what they can do. Although Iam not convinced they know any more than I do at times. My next question is if the property sells can the proceeds be used to pay legal costs? At the end of the day I really need to move to a small more financially viable property now that Iam separated from my partner. I feel like Iam babysitting a property and would rather make the move sooner rather than later.

Hi SuzHamilton.

I think you'll need to work out that kind of detail directly with your trustee. It does seem reasonable that the selling costs come from the proceeds though, they would do if the trustee were selling the home.

Do you think that sum of £7000 will in reality be generated from the sale of the property?

The sale of the property will require the consent of the Trustee and it would be normal for the estate agents and legal costs to be deducted on conclusion of the sale. The net balance would therefore be payable to the trustee.

Mark