My husband is being chased for 8,000.00 shortfall when his ex wife had the property repossessed in 1999. The Halifax said they did not know that he had left the property. On the file sent to us there has been an amendment made to my husbands personal information, I presume this means some change to his personal details, the only time my husband has been into the Halifax office is to change his address at the same time requesting to sell his shares and the cheque came to his present address. Also included in the information they sent us were several Debt Counselling reports and the Diary both of them clearly state that Mrs. X is now known as Mrs.Y as she has re-married and now lives in the property with her new husband. Can this information be used to our advantage to fight them as my husband had no notification of the repossession from the Halifax, we only found out the day before she was being evicted. Thanks Christine

-- Christine Singleton (Middleforth1@aol.com), November 22, 2001

Answers

Unfortunately no, it can't be used to your advantage. I assume your husband's name was left on the mortgage on the old property (why????) - if it was, then he is legally "jointly and severally" liable for any (proven) shortfall. He will need to follow the steps detailed on this site to put a damage limitation exercise in place. I would suggest he makes a "full and final settlement" offer to the Lender of a small amount. If they accept this (in writing) they should go after his ex for the rest, but don't be surprised if they don't. They can still come back to him at a future date if the settlement you make is not clearly worded. Make sure it includes a clause which prevents them AND any future holder of the debt from pursuing your husband for any amount in relation to the property.

-- Too scared to say (iwasduped@yahoo.com), November 22, 2001.