Two judgement mortgages on my home which is in positive equity

B

Babybuttons

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My husband mortgaged a house before we were married and had business debts which he gave some Personal guarantees for , in turn there are two judgement mortgages on the property,
we are not in negitave equity but he does have a further 25 years left on the mortgage , which I have been paying for the past five years as my husband is not working .
There are 6 years left on the judgement mortgages.

My questions are
1. What happens after 12 years , can he be forced to sell

2. As the mortgage is in my husbands name do I have any right to the house when it is paid in full Or will the judgement mortgages be still in place ,
3. The fact that the judgement mortgage was registered with land registerg after our marriage does the change things ,

Any help much appreciated
 
House is in joint names? Or his sole name?

If in his sole name, answers

1. No, judgement simply expires and cannot be enforced. It would be a foolish creditor that would allow that to happen without taking some steps to realise the judgement.
2. If you're not on the title, you don't actually own the house - even if you are paying the mortgage. You have certain rights as a spouse though. The judgement mortgages last for 12 years from the date of the judgement.
3. No. It's his house, his debt.

mf
 
Thanks for your advice

The mortgage is only in his name . We are married with two small kids .

What options could they take to enforce the judgement mortgage before the 12 year deadline ,
What happens the debt if it does pass 12 years
 
So - he owns the house, it is in his sole name. The mortgage is in his sole name.

"What options could they take to enforce the judgement mortgage before the 12 year deadline. "

They ( the people with the judgement mortgage) could seek a well charging order - that they can sell the house and recover their debt and costs. If the house is worth less than the bank mortgage - i.e. if the house is in negative equity ( more debt than equity) - that would be pointless.

"What happens the debt if it does pass 12 years"

Once no steps have been taken to enforce a judgement and 12 years have elapsed, the judgement dies. It cannot be enforced.

mf
 
Sorry to ask all these questions but I am Trying to get my head around it .

After the 12 years can the people request another judgement mortgage . Will my husband still be required to pay the debt ,
 
"After the 12 years can the people request another judgement mortgage ."

No. Take the date of the judgement. Add 12 years. If the judgement is not enforced in that time period of 12 years, it dies. Kaput. Finished. Ended. Nothing more to be done. No obligation on your husband to pay.

mf
 
So now that mf1 has clarified the legal position, what are your options?

Can you give the figures. The value of the house and the amount of the three mortgages. The interest rate and the monthly repayments.

Options
1) Do nothing and hope that the holders of the judgement mortgages will do nothing. I suspect that they are waiting for equity to build up in the house through your repayments and capital appreciation to make it worth their while enforcing the mortgage
2) Your husband could apply for a PIA or bankruptcy. You would probably lose the house but you would not be paying off the judgement mortgages.
3) Stop paying your mortgage so that there will be no point in the others seeking to enforce the mortgage.
4) Seek a settlement with the holders of the judgement mortgages. If you have cash, you offer them 50% of the amount.
 
The mortgage is 140,000 . The house would be worth about that today , We are currently in arrears so about to get an ARA , our repayments are 850 per month ,
The judgements are for 55,000 and 33,000.
We had looked into bankruptcy but really don't want to lose our house and we were told if the asignee let us stay in the house the judgment mortgages would stay in place even if bankrupt .

We felt that the fact that it is our family home that maybe they will have trouble enforcing the judgement mortgage before the 12 years.
 
Advice I was given is that it's extremely unlikely that they would move to force sale of the family home. Brendan44 (who is in the Banks and very knowledgeable) was the first of many to tell me this.
 
I don't think it's extremely unlikely at all. If the house is in negative equity, there would be little point in it.

But before the 12 years is up, there may well be equity in this house and the holder of the first judgement mortgage may well apply for a repossession order. Think about it. They have taken legal action to get a judgement. They then got a well-charging order. They then registered it as a judgement mortgage. That is a lot of work and expense.

Given the financial position of the OP, there is really nothing she can do. Just keep paying the reduced payment on the mortgage and hope that the main lender is happy with this and that the holders of the judgement mortgages don't take any action before the 12 years.

Just before the 12 years is up, they can start repossession proceedings. So that gives them another few years of possible house price increases.

Brendan
 
Babybuttons said:
Would I have any rights as a spouse
Click to expand...

Fraid not. Its bricks and mortar, in husband's name, with mortgage and judgement mortgages. The most you can hope for is that the judgement mortgagors do not enforce the judgement.

mf
 
Brendan Burgess said:
I don't think it's extremely unlikely at all. If the house is in negative equity, there would be little point in it.

But before the 12 years is up, there may well be equity in this house and the holder of the first judgement mortgage may well apply for a repossession order. Think about it. They have taken legal action to get a judgement. They then got a well-charging order. They then registered it as a judgement mortgage. That is a lot of work and expense.

Given the financial position of the OP, there is really nothing she can do. Just keep paying the reduced payment on the mortgage and hope that the main lender is happy with this and that the holders of the judgement mortgages don't take any action before the 12 years.

Just before the 12 years is up, they can start repossession proceedings. So that gives them another few years of possible house price increases.

Brendan
Click to expand...

This is at odds with what 44Brendan told me:
"No point in entering a defense unless you have a genuine dispute over the amounts claimed. Judgment will be granted in default. Forcing a sale of a PDH on the basis of a JM is theoretically possible but unbelievable complex and expensive. I.e. process of obtaining a well charging order and order for sale would generally preclude most JM holders.
Yes the JM will become statute barred after 12 years. Regard this process as a standard by Crosskerry's (who generally work on a no foal no fee basis for these smaller debts) to try and force some kind of settlement offer from you!!"

Got similar advice from Grant Thornton who said costs to force sale would not justify enforcing a judgement mortgage and assessed the risk at .01%. I really hope they are right. Bear in mind that my house is 45k underwater.
 
I was in the Circuit Court today.
A solicitor had sued over a debt of €9k.
He got a judgement.
He got a well charging order.
He issued proceedings for repossession.

Although, there was a mortgage on the property, there was plenty of equity in the house and he was quite prepared to repossess and sell it. He would have discharged the 1st mortgage, then the other mortgage, and then his fees.

The defendant paid the bill and his legal costs.

It didn't seem "unbelievably complex and expensive". It might have been because his client was a small business and he was a small firm of solicitors.

This solicitor seems particularly proactive and determined.


Brendan
 
But the judgment mortgages total 88K - that is a lot of money for creditors to throw away.

The saving grace is that there does not appear to be any equity in the property.

mf
 
Following earlier posts I spoke to a solicitor , she has advised that a judgement mortgage will stay on a property if my husband is the owner regardless of the 12 years time frame. So if we did manage to pay the mortgage in full , the judgement mortgages still stand and they can enforce a sale when the house is owned by husband . She said the 12 years would just mean that if we surrendered the house after 12 years the debt would die with the house ,
 
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