Order for sale of property

[bspug]

I would be very appreciative if anyone could help me out with this query

We are a firm of builders who has been very messed about by a client. We have a solicitor on board who has got judgement against our client. We then put a charge on her property.

My question is when we go for the order of sale (which we are in the process off at the moment) can we just sell the property for money owed on it (the bank, us as second charge, then another firm of solicitors) I have been lead to believe there is alot of equity in the property.

Her daughter is in the process of buying the property from her they requested a four week stay on the hearing as they apparently already has a mortgage offer so we agreed thinking this would be the quicker option. The four weeks are up next week and we have now found out that they haven't actually got a mortgage offer, all the papers are in place they are just waiting for the valuation. They have also requested that we now wait until the 1st Nov for completion as the client has a redemption on her mortgage of �10K. As you can guess we r not happy. So my question is if I carry on with the order of sale do I have to carry on with their purchase which would see our client still having somewhere to live (her daughter is buying the property as a investment) and some money to be left to live on, or can I just take the lowest offer which will cover her debts and leave her homeless.

I know this seems harsh but we are only a small family run firm of builders and she has owed us money for the last four years, she has bounced numerous cheques on us and not being melodramtic we could really use that money but we have just had enough

I look forward to hearing anyones thoughts

[Nosha123]

I'm afraid I dont know about the specifics you question above - but you can legally charge her interest on the money she owes... not that it helps.. but it goes a little way to compensate for another delay.

I feel for you and hope she is made to cough up!!!

[bspug]

we r charging her interest daily but still not getting any further so far she has acumillated over �3000 in interest even that hasn't made her pay up. Hence this is why we want to leave her with as little as possible

[Barmaid]

I am sorry to hear about your situation.

Assuming you were to put in an application for an order for sale today, I imagine it would be 4 - 6 weeks before the application will be listed. By then of course, it will become clear whether completion is likely to take place on 1 November. Assuming things are still on for the 1, I doubt any Court would grant you an order for sale.

Even if the matter were heard today, the Court would take into account the amount of your debt v the amount of equity in the property. They would place a lot of weight on the fact that it could potentially leave your client homeless when there is a buyer lined up. On the the other hand, had there been no buyer, the Ct would look as your interests as a creditor with more weight.

I am not sure as to the buyer's position - is she paying in cash? If they are in fact ready to proceed, you could threaten them with enforcement proceedings (which could incur more costs) and also explain that you are charging interest at 8% - in which case she could lose the �10k she is seeking to protect by delay.

As to your position, you would effectively be selling the house qua trustee. As such you owe a duty to the "beneficiaries" - ie the other chargees, and the equity holder. In that situation, you should attempt to ensure the best price. We all know that mortgage lenders don't - unfortunately, many people are not in the position of being able to pursue them for badly selling their property.

The alternative is to suggest to the daughter that instead of buying the property, she just settles the charge - then you will go away and she will have a charge on the property.