I am in a situation where I am 54 now unemployed and living on Job Seekers Allowance. The DSS are paying part of the interest on the mortgage to Britannia BS.

Hammond Suddards Edge has issued a claim for repossession of the property. But the property is valued at twice the amount that Britannia is claiming. I put the property up for sale as soon as I realised that there was no way I could find the arrears demanded from me. I got three valuations and put the house up for sale with the Halifax Estate agents.

Question 1: Is it possible for the court to let me stay in the house, maintain it and realise the best price possible to enable my family and I to maximise our capital and buy a more modest house. If so what is the best way to convince the court that this is the best way forward. I have searched the Internet for precedents on this and have not managed to find anything. If the house is repossessed I am afraid that the building society will only be interested in covering their own money.

Question 2: Britannia Building Society (very conveniently) have been posting payments to a smaller account that I have, thereby making my arrears situation seem a lot worse than they actually are. Also there are debits posted to the account, which seem to be totally unnecessary such as insurance fees that cover the whole amount including land not just the value of rebuilding. Also a regular deeds fee, which they cannot explain. How can I get the mortgage audited very quickly before my court hearing on the 11th of March 2002

Question 3: In my search of the Internet, I came across references to fraud, illegal, immoral and sharp practices committed by Britannia Building Society and Hammond Suddards Edge, Britannia's solicitors. I tried to trace the website to see what all this is about but the website www.britanniabuildingsociety.org and www.britanniafraud.org seems to be blocked. Does anybody know who is behind this website so that I can communicate with them to see if there is any common ground. The name Paul Todd has cropped up but I can find no trace of him.

-- Eddie Marshman (eddie@viatra.com), February 22, 2002

Answers

I have found the courts are on your side and if you have a plan to repay, by selling they will genraly grant a stay of execution of a repossesion order to allow you to carry this out. Dont forget you can appeal any decision made by the court which will also buy you some time sell, this will also alow you to investigate the 'sharp practices' of the BS

-- Jon S (jks_uk2001@yahoo.co.uk), February 22, 2002.

The email address that I posted above is not working properly. Anybody that can help or give advice to my problem, would you email me on eddie@blacksheep.demon.co.uk or call me on 07961 866 460

Thanks for your interest

Eddie Marshman

-- Eddie Marshman (eddie@blacksheep.demon.co.uk), March 02, 2002.

To whom it may concern - I sent Eddie case law on Bristol & West -v- Ellis (& another) before the Court of Appeal, and pointed out that his 'posted' e-mail address was not working (having had several helping e-mails bounce, at which time he referred readers to his correct e-mail address now posted hereon.

It seems strange that Eddie purportedly sought information/assistance but was then unwilling to answer reasonable (but ultra basic) questions about his case to enable me (& others) to help further.

No doubt there is a reasonable explanation and Eddie will let the Q&A board know how his action with the Britannia went?

Can anyone tell me what an agent provocateur is?"

Vic

-- Vic Harper (victorcharper@aol.com), March 17, 2002.

I also responded to Eddie's correct e-mail address and received no reply.

Eddie's house appears to be very high value in the locality and appears to be on the market.

Eddie has been an infrequent visitor to newsgroups (http://www.google.com) since someone took him to task a few years ago.

It is accepted that individuals under pressure sometimes loose the plot and whilst I am tempted to check the Land Registry to see if Eddie has a Britannia mortgage or the Court records to trace the action I have better things to do with my time. It is also possible to track down the solar water heater fiasco or old mobiles etc. but Eddie appears to have enough on his plate. I am sorry that the .org site is down at the moment and would be willing to make a donation if those involved will re-consider.

In reply to the other poster's comment my understanding is that an agent provocateur is someone who is charged with provoking a response with the intent of making use of the fact that a response was obtained rather than that which appeared to be required.

Many thanks to S and G for making me aware of this posting. I will frequent the site more often. More power to your elbows. If you want information on the dishonesty of Britannia Building Society, their acts of fraud, their conspiratorial debt collection agents etc. please let me know. Their fraud in the case in which I was involved will NEVER be forgotten and the dishonesty of named individuals will again be published whether independently of the members of hopefully at http://www.britanniabuildingsociety.org

-- Paul Todd (paul_todd_ch@yahoo.de), March 19, 2002.