Emyr Pierce

Professional Legal Services | Cardiff

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Will sale to son stop home repossession?

I am currently suffering serious financial problems. I want to transfer or sell my house to my son who has lived in it for the last 22 years. Could this prevent the property being repossessed?

By transferring the property to your son I presume you mean gifting it – as opposed to selling the property to your son in an arms length transaction at the full market value.

Any transfer to your son for no consideration (a gift) could be deemed to be a deliberate attempt on your part to defraud your creditors under the terms of the Insolvency Acts, and could be overturned by your Trustee in Bankruptcy should you subsequently be declared bankrupt.

If you are in arrears on your mortgage you will not be able to transfer, or gift the property to anyone without the consent of your Lender and this consent will only be forthcoming upon repayment of the amount owed under the mortgage.

In other words, whether you sell to your son, or any third party, will amount to the same thing whereby the Lender will have first call on the proceeds of sale.

Can you sell the content of a property after repossession?

My brother-in-law has had his house repossessed. He bought a complete new kitchen less than a year ago which I offered to buy off him, but is he allowed to sell it and let me remove it?

Once a property has been repossessed this will have taken place as a result of a Court Order giving the lender the right to take possession.

If the kitchen had been fully paid for then this – along with the property – falls into the ownership of the lender and can be sold with the property. If the kitchen remained on a Hire Purchase, or other Finance Agreement, then title to the kitchen would remain with the Hire Purchase, or Finance Company, and could be removed by them.

That is why someone buying a repossessed home is not guaranteed ‘good title’ to any items included in the property.

It is, therefore, unlikely you will able to remove the kitchen as this will also not only cause damage to the property, but adversely affect its saleability.