English
FrançaisHi, Due to the leaseback management company going into receivership and not getting rent I am having to consider defaulting on a French mortgage. Does anyone know if the French mortgage lender can persue you in the Uk and if so can they enforce you to sell a uk property with a uk lender? Also have another French mortgage with a different french bank can they touch this? A bad situation but finding it hard to get answers.thanks
Paul
Aaaargh! The answer is potentially yes, yes and yes. The worst case scenario is that they foreclose on your mortgage, get a judgement against you in a local Court and force a sale at auction, which will naturally be vastly below the value of your loan (this being France and the property being a leaseback which isn't paying and therefore has residual value). This process does however take a long long time. Any judgement of a competent Court in the EU can be enforced automatically in the UK, so to the extent that the proceeds of the sale doesnt satisfy the bank's judgement, they can enforce by the usual means - and this includes taking a charge over any UK property they can find in your name. Do NOT just let this happen; write to the bank first to see if they will agree a payment holiday; if the answer is "no", take legal advice and get a lawyer to apply to the Court for an order amending the repayment terms. The French Courts will generally do this if there is sufficient evidence that you can't pay any more.
"Potentially" and "worse case scenario" being the key words here.
Totally depends on your situation and how you have managed the non payment of rent.
1. Do not sign a new lease.
2. Do not rent privately.
3. Do not change your tax status to an enterprise (unlimited).
4. Do not pay any bills you would not pay under the leaseback.
5. Do not holiday in your property or gain from it.
6. Record utility readings to prove above.
7. Pay all of your legal taxes (Fonciere etc).
8. Make sure you know who is doing your accounts and what they are filling in for you!!!!!!!!
There is far more to this than meets the eye.
Good Luck
Mutley
PS Still waiting for my friend who has not paid his mortgage for 3 years to lose his property!