house purchase

[oxymoron]

Is there a way to check if there are any outstanding debts on a house before you buy it.My son is considering buying but , as the house has been repossed is there a chance that bailiffs may come knocking on the door for debts of the previous owners!!!!

[hc4361]

Any debts secured on a property will have to be paid off when the house is sold, so your scenario can't happen.
Unsecured debts are not attached to a property so can still be live after the house is sold but these won't show on the Registered Title and you can't access the credit report of the previous occupier.
You can download the Title Register from the Land Registry for a small fee, but it won't show unsecured loans.

Whilst it is impossible for secured loans to be transferred with the sale, it is possible that bailiffs will call at the address looking for the previous owner in respect of unsecured loans.

[Eve]

It's possible.

Mortgage lenders sell under a special power of sale so that they can override other charges on the title register so it does not prevent them from selling the property even if the price they get for it won't pay off all the charges secured.

As said above, the secured debts will show on the title register as at the date of the title register you see (it wouldn't show any pending applications).

It is possible, especially with the current credit crunch, that the main mortgage lender may not even get all their money back so no-one else would get anything.

He should keep copies of the title register handy so they can be produced to any bailiffs who come calling and send any post addressed to previous owners back to sender confirming that that person is not longer at that address.

[oxymoron]

Many thanks hc4361 and Jenna1978 for the information. It seems that everything would be o.k.I just think he didn`t want to be subjected to any hassle.