P.S What can I do if I have no sensible response from the trustee? Can I move out of my house, cancel mortgage repayments etc and monthly contribution then post the house keys to the trustee requesting they take the property and get the missives from mortgage provider and so on, oh, and please send me a letter of discharge????!!!

Hello Richard,

It sounds as though your change in circumstances may have rendered your existing monthly trust deed payment impossible to maintain?

How much have you been paying each month? How many trust deed payments remain?

Was there an agreement at the outset to contribute a set amount in lieu of the equity in your property at the end of the trust deed?

How much money do you believe would be generated by the sale of your home after all costs?

How much debt did you have at the start of the trust deed?

As you have made a personal decision to change your circumstances, in a way that will affect the commitments you originally made to your trust deed, I think that it's going to be very important to work with your Trustee rather than against him/her.

As such I would suggest that, once ready, you write to your Trustee (personally) stating the change in your circumstances, your proposals to bring the trust deed to a conclusion, and confirm that you are no longer in a position to maintain the agreed monthly payments. The contents of the letter will need to be fair to all parties involved in the trust deed. If you cannot maintain the monthly payments your Trustee will have to deal with your letter in one way or another.

The answers to my questions (above) will help the experts here to provide their views to you on whether your Trustee is likely to consider your proposals to be acceptable. They'll be able to share with you how their companies might view such a request.

You are almost certainly not currently in a position to sell your property yourself. This will require the involvement of your Trustee.

The most that you will have to pay to your trust deed is the original balances, some interest, and the fees/outlays of your trust deed company. If there were a balance left over from the sale of your home this money would go to you. However this seems an unlikely outcome as, if this were possible, it would be hard to understand why you were advised to enter a trust deed in the first instance.

Please let us know the extra information that I mentioned earlier so that the experts here can share their thoughts.

Hi, many thanks for your reply,

My monthly repayments are ?ú200 and due to end August of this year. I will have paid ?ú7200 by the end.

My trust deed proposal states repayments of 27 pence in the pound of a ?ú77k debt (failed business) and it also states assets available to creditors of ?ú17k.
I believe my house to be worth in the region of 90-?ú100k and the outstanding mortgage is ?ú63k.

I could not remortgage to begin with to settle debts as around ?ú20k of the outstanding mortgage was unsecured (I took out the mortgage when you could get 125% for renovations) and this unsecured amount has been included in the trust deed.

I understand that I would not be able to sell the property myself. I also know that I owe money and am trying to come to a mutually satisfactory agreement as soon as possible and can only think of one way of doing this- through sale of the property. A point worth noting, in my opinion, is that I won't be physically able to remortgage to release equity at the end of the trust deed, due to my new circumstances.

Thanks again for your help

P.S I have already informed my trustee of my new circumstances and proposed the sale of my house

Hi Richard.

Thanks for that really useful information. Is your home owned just by you or jointly with another person?

Assuming that you are the sole owner of your home it seems to me that a sale of your property now, and an end to the trust deed, is very much in the interests of your creditors. They will get more money than they expected sooner than they expected.

You're absolutely correct about remortgaging. Using a mortgage to release equity at the end of a trust deed is pretty much a thing of the past. In the current mortage lending environment the products simply do not exist.

I think it will be good to hear from the representatives of trust deed companies who post here. They will all have dealt with similar situations in the past.

Have you been waiting long for a response from your Trustee?

Thanks,

Home is solely owned by me.

Was hoping you would agree re. remortgaging and early settlement etc!

Unsure about a response from trustee yet as I am away from home. Wrote to them 3-4 weeks ago and have a neigbour going in tomorrow to check for any mail.

Hi Richard

interesting post. Normally when there is an offer of family to help in a Trust Deed early settlement, the Trustee would ask for confirmation/proof of payment that they are providing the funds. Was this ever provided?

On the subject of the remaining payments, you are unable to sell the property without your Trustees agreement and the funds from the sale would go to the Trustee in line with agreement at the start. If you simply walked away from the house and stopped payments to the mortgage and Trust Deed, then the property would be repossessed and the Trustee would, in line with current guidance, would require to petition for your bankruptycy.

Mark

Hi Mark,
There was no confirmation of this since it was not an offer as such, more of a query to find out what it would take to settle early. This is irrelevant now since the family member in question as decided to use the money elsewhere.

I originally wrote to my trustee with my most recent query of selling up to settle early around 3 weeks ago and yet to have a response.

Where do I go from here?

Thanks,
Richard

Hi Richard,

Based upon the information that you have provided I'm sure that they will want to talk to you about your proposals.

I'd suggest that you give your Trustee's office a call to follow up on your letter.