formal notice to pay

I'm interested to hear that notice came from your local court service in Ireland. Can you clarify what you mean by this.  

In my case,  I have instituted legal proceedings in France against the original (irish) promoter, the French developer (Garrigae), the Notaire that was responsible for overseeing this so-called investment and the French Bank (Credit Immobilier de France) which loaned money to me for what now, with hindsight, was clear fraud and mis-selling on an industrial scale. AT least 15 other owners in the same resort have also instituted similar legal proceeding in the last 6 months.  

I am led to believe that this legal action will take about 2 years to come to a conclusion.  I regard this action both as being both just & necessary to counter the fraud I have been subjected to as well as a hedge against any possible legal action against me here in Ireland. I think it's time people stood up against the gross injustice many of us have subjected to.  I describe it as having been  repeatedly "financially raped" and have resolved to fight back.

Good luck !.

hi Bio,  i am further along than you. After trying to engage, I purposefully renaged on my mortgage over two years ago, due to severe change in circumstance(s) and was served court documents through Dublin last year. I have good legal advice in the UK since that time.  We went to local court and obtained a local order to amicably sell the property over 6 months, but could not get a confirmed buyer in that tim..  Therefore it went to public auction this week and got a bid.  No point you trying to talk to the Bank now if you have been served docs from dublin. My legal reps in the UK tried to get them to come to a settlement on the mortgage but to no avail, as they had already hired barrister and passed on the debt.

Our next step now is to protect my only asset in Ireland which is my house and the equity in it, if I ever tried to sell it (or my children did).  We will be filing for French bankruptcy shortly to block them coming to Ireland to try to obtain a lien on my assets here.  There is/was also the possibility of an Irish bailiff arriving to my house and seizing everything in it in a few years (and I would have to pay out E5,000 for this encforced visit), with no prior notice. 

as per previous posts, the poss of the Bank coming to Ireland to court here to obtain the money through European law is slim, as the sum is not massive, but still is always something that would hang over you.

if you want a PM, i can let you know the name of my french lawyers helping me and keeping me sane in this stressful time.

t

Hi, a question to Madmart. I am not sure if I have understood you properly, are you saying that if you file for bankrupcy in France that they can't come after your British property? Our appartment is in arrears and the bank have taken us to court to repossess it and sell at auction. We have decided not to contest as we have run out of funds and are now just trying to minimize the damage. The case will be heard this Friday, so I am trying to see if there is anything else we can do to protect our interests.

We bought the property through Assetz, a British based company. Has anyone else had any dealings, or problems with them that could help me to shed light on the best course of action to take.

many thanks

i can give you name of my Frfench lawyer if you want to talk to him?  it depends on the equity in your house and how much of a loan you have in the UK. if your debts are high in your home country and you don't have a lot of equity in your house or other assets/monies, then filing for bankrup in local court in france would be a good safeguard and block future lien on your property.

Hi madmart, thank you for your prompt reply, the name of your French lawyer would be helpful, do they speak English? I have been using a British lawyer for about 2 years who specializes in french property, she put us in touch with a French lawyer to assess whether it would be worth fighting the repossession, but it appears that we are better to let it go. We are simply doing damage limitation at this stage. This whole process has been a nightmare, start to finish. I would be interested to know if anyone has won a case against Odalys as yet. Regards Aly

please pm me if you want more detail.

Hi madmart

I'm just starting the morgage default cycle, I'd really apprreciate your French lawyers details. 

i don't own any property in the UK so I'm thinking that the best thing for me to do is come for bankruptcy in France, can anyone advise me how to start this process considering I only speak English. Does anyone m is the best option for me.? Keeping the property in France is not an option for me

many thanks 

Hi madmart

im new to this forum, how do I private message re the French lawyer that's keeping you sane. I seriously need them too and I'd appreciate their contact details 

I'm worried that bailiffs will come to take all my belongings 

many thanks 

it is anglo french law - based in Uk with Avocats in France. Google them.  0044 844 884 4704 or within UK 0044 333 3356767

hi billy,

 you should be able to posptone the repossession date at court, by trying to sell it privately and showing that you have engaged real estate agents there on the ground. the lawyer should advise you on that. beware though, you will be back in court every few months and if it doesn't sell, the banks will take it off you for reduced price.

i don't know anyone who has been actively chased in Ireland for debts outstanding against their assets, but I think there may be a few cases in the UK, though the figures would surely be high. does your irish solicitor know any law practice who have this type of work from Europe? It would have to be worth the Banks time and effort against assets, and I don't know of any enforcements. and obviously goes before the local court but if they have an EEO cert obtained in france they can go abroad to chase the debt.  the EEO comes after a judgement obtained in france.  The judgement can be contested by you, but an EEO cannot.   

Madmart or bio I wonder if you could tell me what has happened since your last posts with your court proceedings. I'm where ye were a year ago. I've just been served papers through my local court and don't know what to do next. I've read lots of conflicting advice but I can't find anything about the eventual outcome for anyone. I would very much appreciate if somebody could let me know how things progressed for them - good or bad. The fear of the unknown is really difficult to deal with. 

Hi Bio9060
I understand what you are enduring and would like to help you.
Can you p.m. your contact details please.

Can a non French citizen declare bankruptcy in France? I didn't think this was possible. How have earlier posts got on with this process?