# Contact post bankruptcy re surrendered house



## Stuboy (12 Apr 2017)

Discharged from Bankruptcy last year. 
Surrendered our house to the ISI during bankruptcy.
My wife was contacted today by a major law firm, stating they were receivers for the house, requesting our current address so that they could send us 'Documents to sign' regarding the house. 
When asked would they be contacting me (as house was in both our names) she was told NO.
Wife refused to speak further until she spoke with me and we contacted the ISI for advice.
I am not handing my current address out to a law firm to be harassed again. 

Question: is there any legitimate reason that they would need to contact us?

Surrender forms were already signed and submitted with keys to ISI. 
My thoughts on this are that if there are forms requiring signature, they can be sent to the ISI where we can collect them and send back.

Opinions?


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## Seagull (12 Apr 2017)

Try calling them back and ask for further details of what it is that needs signing, and why it's only being brought up now. You might also ask why they would only be contacting your wife when the house was in both names. They already have your phone number, so you're not providing them with any new information.


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## TLO (12 Apr 2017)

My personal view is that you should only co-operate with a property sale if there is written agreement on what happens to the shortfall, and ideally that this is written off.  In other words, co-operate in exchange for a full write-off of the shortfall.  As you have already tried this, and were left with no option but to petition for your own bankruptcy, the "major law firm" and their clients (a bank or possibly the ISI) should be left to deal with the matter themselves.  They will probably have to get a court order to allow for the sale.  

Sign nothing (really important, there have been instances in England and Wales where former bankrupts unwittingly took responsibility for shortfalls).

Say nothing other than, "I'm bankrupt (even though you no longer are) - all queries to the Insolvency Service".


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## SirMille (12 Apr 2017)

TLO said:


> *Sign nothing* (really important, there have been instances in England and Wales where former bankrupts unwittingly took responsibility for shortfalls).
> 
> *Say nothing* other than, "I'm bankrupt (even though you no longer are) - all queries to the Insolvency Service".



This.

Also make a note of the number that called you.


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## Stuboy (19 Apr 2017)

hi all, was onto the ISI and they said what I thought:
Do not engage with them, tell them to call the ISI.
they reckon that our name is still on the property register, even though we signed the house over to the ISI.
meaning the ISI had yet to change the property register to exclude us from the house.
the law firm were obliged to make contact with the registered owners of the property, i.e. us, as were still on the register.
issue resolved.


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## Silvio Dante (19 Apr 2017)

I suspected this was exactly the issue.

The ISI at present seems to be really floundering.
They no longer have 12 years to deal with stuff at a snail's pace and are making mistakes for sure.

Their interest in my property, similarly was never registered, despite having almost 3 years to do so.

Overall not a good development for people still in bankruptcy.
And very good news for solicitors

Law firm above will prob get a few grand tidying up something that should have been absolutely routine.
Imagine if you bought a house and three years later, found out your solicitor hadn't registered it.

Stuff like that, if replicated with likes of Sean Dunne or Quinns, would be immensely costly and perhaps fatal.


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## Catastrophe (15 Aug 2017)

As above. Out of bankruptcy almost a year now with no IPOs etc and have just received my credit report from the ICB. 
Not surprised to see that according to same report I am in the moratorium with my mortgage lender despite not livng in the house for almost 26 months and informing both the ISI and the banks.
The reply from the ISI when queried is that it is a legal loophole which will require legislation to fix same. When this will happen no one knows however, there are people working on it!!
The bank on the other hand cannot do anything as the house is vested in the ISI.
Sometimes think I should have ignored all the letters and just let the banks drag me through the courts instead.

Or perhaps I could enter the property on [broken link removed] instead.


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