# Negative Equity, Split Mortgage Offer but House not suitable for two severely disable



## carermom (12 Jan 2014)

we are in our house about eight or nine years - mortgage with bank of Ireland.  It was an old semi detached house built in the 1950s that we bought it only had two rooms down stairs and two rooms upstairs we built on kitchen, utility room and downstairs toilet and bathroom and another bedroom upstairs.  Almost five years ago I gave birth to a little boy with severe neurological problems from a rare disorder. He is severely physically and mentally disabled - unable to support his own head, unable to sit up on his own, unable to talk or walk because of low muscle tone he is like a rag doll, he is tube fed by peg and has severe epilepsy.  When I went back to work I had to cut back to fifteen hours because I am unable to work full time because of his care needs.  So for most of the last five years we have been on payment holidays to interest only and now bank offering us split mortgage extending term over extra ten years. Last year we decided to take the gamble and try for a healthy baby to try bring some balance into our lives and we thought it would be good for our son, however unfortunately we got hit again and our five month old son has been diagnosed with the same condition. We already have a hospital bed in our sitting room for our first son, small front room is full of supplies for his feeding machine, syringes for meds, hoist etc special chair and special buggy and now this will need to be doubled for two, because the house was originally extended when we bought it there is no scope to build a large bedroom and wet room for us and the boys (we need to be in same bedroom due to sons seizures). We have given bank architects report stating no scope to extend. Medical documents from doctors but they will not let us move house to a much needed bungalow (my husband is carrying our eldest son up and down stairs he is over 4 stone and a dead weight) I cannot wash him as bathroom is upstairs I could go on and on but you get the point! We have been to various tds over the last few years but our problem falls on deaf ears. 

We are basically stuck in a narrow 1950s house with two severely disabled boys that is totally unsuitable to our needs surely the bank has to be able to offer us something besides split mortgage in unsuitable house.

I'm hoping someone has some advice?

Thanks in advance


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## Bronte (13 Jan 2014)

I find these kind of posts very hard to deal with.  

I really really think that in circumstances such as yours a bank should have a policy of writing off your loan, or letting you move house.  Or doing whatever is needed for people in your position.  

Options, all I can think of is Joe Duffy, but you'd have to divulge all your personal imformation on the radio, but it might get a response from the bank.  I presume you can afford your current mortgage, but that you need to sell your current house, and buy the bungalow.   But maybe there is a problem of NE and the bank won't let you move the mortgage.

Carermon, I cannot imagine what it must be like to live your life.  But I do know this, you only have one life.  If you cannot get the bank to budge, the ultimate solution is to actually move out of your current home and go rent a bungalow that is suitable to your needs.  And let the bank come after you, it cannot surely be any more troublesome to deal with than your current situation which is one of the most horrendous I've heard of.  

I'm sorry not to be able to be of more help.


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## carermom (13 Jan 2014)

The mortgage is €209,000 . I suppose house is only now worth €120,000 we are thankfully on tracker rate. We cannot afford our full payment as we both cannot work full time anymore because of the boys. We should be paying 750 ish a month we are paying 457. This is why only option bank will offer us is a split mortgage extended over an extra ten years in our existing property. Problem is we cannot afford to rent someone and pay mortgage on house.


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## Bronte (13 Jan 2014)

So you're in NE and you cannot afford even your current repayments.  Are you not entitled to some help from the government in relation to paying the interest on the mortgage? (mortgage interest supplement)

Have you looked into going bankrupt?  But saying that, you're currently paying 457 a month in mortgage and unless you're somewhere like Donegal you'd find it impossible to rent any house for that figure.  

I'm not suggesting you try and pay the mortgage and rent somewhere else.  I'm suggesting that your circumstances are such that they warrant you leaving your current home and that you rent somewhere more suitable.   

Are you able to give us more details on the figures, do you think you could fill out the money makeover thread.   

Are either of you working in a financial institution whereby bankruptcy or insolvency would be detrimental to your job prospects.  

Try and give us more figures, just rough figures.  I assume with such health problems there are expenses to that too.


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## carermom (13 Jan 2014)

Hi unfortunately I am currently in financial services (well was working 15hrs per week) my husband had to give up his full time job when I had the second baby as am on maternity leave at the minute as the baby is 5 months we are currently trying to get more nursing hours from the hse as there are chunks in the day esp around tube feeding and medicine times that one person on their own cannot safely manage the two boys. Due back in a month but that's only if nursing is supplied to help my husband while I'm gone. I will see what I can do with figures but could be a couple of days on that as u only get short snippets of free time over the day. However if we can get adequate nursing help we hope for my husband to return to full time work and I finish my job (both of us will no longer be able to work at the same time).


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## argentina (13 Jan 2014)

I really feel for you, life is difficult enough without living in an unsuitable house too.  Have you got a good social worker?  A family relation that has Children with Special Needs has a great one and reckons that she really helps in getting entitlements processed.  
Maybe you could try positing this on the 'Special Needs' thread on Rollercoaster.ie; there are many other Parents who are probably better informed and might have some good advice.


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## Brendan Burgess (13 Jan 2014)

> surely the bank has to be able to offer us something besides split mortgage in unsuitable house.





> The mortgage is €209,000 . I suppose house is only now worth €120,000 we  are thankfully on tracker rate. We cannot afford our full payment as we  both cannot work full time anymore because of the boys. We should be  paying 750 ish a month we are paying 457. This is why only option bank  will offer us is a split mortgage extended over an extra ten years in  our existing property. Problem is we cannot afford to rent someone and  pay mortgage on house.




What more do you think they should offer you?  What have you asked them for? 

I think it is extraordinary that a bank would offer a split mortgage on a cheap tracker loan. 

You have a terrible problem,  but I don't see why it is up to the bank to solve it?  

It would be completely unreasonable to expect a bank to transfer a mortgag which is in arrears already to a more expensive house. 

The very best you could hope for would be that they would allow you to sell the house and write off the shortfall. 

Then it would be up to the local authority or the HSE to find your family suitable accommodation.

But I think that the approach of blaming the bank for being stubborn will not resolve your problem for you.


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## carermom (13 Jan 2014)

Thanks for your post Argentina However I suppose because my eldest disabled son is almost five I'm fully up to speed with all my general day to day month to month entitlements it's just in relation to our situation and bank that we are stuck but thanks anyway


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## carermom (13 Jan 2014)

Brendan Im sorry if it comes across that way obviously its not the banks fault that ive given birth to two severely disabled kids since buying the house but neither is it our fault.  We are just desperate and dont know where to turn nobody seems to be able to help or advise us the local authority as things stand wont help  us and the bank cant help us we are just desperate stressed out and dont know what to do. Just thought id try here on the offchance someone coulf guide us sorry if I have offended any industry.


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## Brendan Burgess (13 Jan 2014)

It's not a question of offending an industry. 

It is not the role of the bank to resolve this problem for you. If you focus your energy on trying to get the bank to resolve it, then you will be wasting your time which could be better spent focusing on whomever can help you.

Is there a support group for parents of children with neurological disorders? What do other parents do?  

Brendan


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## carermom (14 Jan 2014)

Most other people only have one neurologically impaired child and either move house or build an extension to suit their needs, because our house only had two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs when we bought it we had to build on kitchen and small utility and bedroom and bathroom upstairs this was before we had the boys and there is no further room in the garden now to extend. 

I suppose I naively thought because the situation  is out of our control there must be something but at least now I know there's not so I suppose we will have to face that we will just have to hand it back or something since there doesn't appear to be anything else - we weren't looking for something more expensive just something to same or less value. Anyway thanks everyone for replying.


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## ANORAKPHOBIA (14 Jan 2014)

Brendan, I think your posts on this thread are extremely insensitive. Not unlike responses one would get from the the very same banks you are so quick to defend.


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## Bronte (14 Jan 2014)

ANORAKPHOBIA said:


> Brendan, I think your posts on this thread are extremely insensitive. Not unlike responses one would get from the the very same banks you are so quick to defend.


 
I don't think he's being insensitive, just factual, and it is the way the bank will look at it too.  I know my emotions on this were clouding my judgement on it yesterday.  The problem with this thread is that we're all sorry for the OP, but neither she nor we can make a bank do anything other than make a commercial decision.


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## Bronte (14 Jan 2014)

carermom said:


> I suppose we will have to face that we will just have to hand it back or something since there doesn't appear to be anything else - we weren't looking for something more expensive just something to same or less value. Anyway thanks everyone for replying.


 
I think handing it back is the best solution, I presume the children's condition can not improve and they will be more work as they get older.  The only other idea I have is to turn the house around, making the upstairs the kitchen/living, and making the downstairs the bedrooms/bathroom.  I don't know if your house would work like that, and there would be a large cost to it.  But the reality is that you quite clearly need a house on one level only.


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## Sunny (14 Jan 2014)

Its a horrible situation but the bank alone can't be expected to solve this problem and they are not to blame for every bit of misfortune that people suffer from. I assume you have exhausted all avenues with regard to social wefare and, HSE and other State Bodies. 

Reading your post, I am not 100% sure what you are loking for. You are currently paying €457 a month off your mortgage instead of €750. I presume you are looking to rent somewhere. How are you going to afford rent if you can only afford €457 a month? It's not going to stretch very far. Your mortgage is pretty low. Would rent of your existing property not cover the mortgage and leave you free to rent somewhere?

Sorry I don't have any real advice for you except keep working with the bank. Have you escalated the issue? You may have to look at the various debt resolution options that are now in place. I wish you all the best.


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## Lucuma (17 Jan 2014)

carermom said:


> We are just desperate and dont know where to turn nobody seems to be able to help or advise us _the local authority as things stand wont help us_ and the bank cant help us .


 
Hi caremom, I assume the above is because they are not able to consider you for local authority housing because you have a mortgage? If so then perhaps you shoudl be putting a plan of action together to change that situation asap. 

If your house was sold, leaving you with a remaining balance that is owed to the bank as a loan - do you know if you would then qualify for local authority housing? Worth finding out. 

I think your 3 options are: 

1. Rent out your house to pay off the mortage and rent a bungalow elsewhere

2. Stop paying your mortgage and walk away from the house and rent a bungalow elsewhere (ye may qualify for rent allowance) 

3. Sell the house yourselves asap and then qualify for local authority housing. 

Good luck with it.


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## carermom (19 Jan 2014)

Yes we have talked to tds, social welfare, etc they can't help us because we have a private mortgage. Something else we found out is if we voluntarily surrender our home apparently we cannot be considered for local authority help then either. Yes 457 is not our full mortgage payment it's the amount that was offered to us as a split mortgage and it shows the dilemma we are in as yes we would find it extremely hard to find a house to rent within our budget that is as nice as our house and it is upsetting as when we bought the house it was very basic no central heating needed rewiring etc and we put a lot into updating it but there is just no room for the extension we need for the two boys and because of their disabilities we can both no longer work - only one of us, so we will never be able to afford the full payment 750 odd. Even renting would only be a short term solution as we will need a wet room to wash and ceiling hoists etc going forward to lift the boys and certainly the older boy.

Anyway I do thank you all for your input and suggestions whether it's what I wanted to hear or not! Our network account manager is coming back to us this week to see if we have decided to sign the split mortgage agreement or not I suppose we will be saying no so I suppose see what he says to that.

Thanks again


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## Bronte (20 Jan 2014)

So voluntary surrender is not an option.  But what if you stopped paying the bank and they repossessed, would that work?

Are you entitled to be housed by the local authority that is suitable for the needs of your children if you are homeless?


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