Sell our home at a shortfall and move abroad - will the bank chase us?

Hi, our story so far, My Husband lost his job in 09, and i lost mine in 2010, we bought our home in 2000, we started arrangements with our bank in 2010 and kept to them until Sep 2012,we are now in €15,000 arears we just couldn't pay anything, we are on the dole, and we are a family of four it is very hard to survive, we have been stressed for the last 3 years, we don't get a goods night sleep thinking of what we can do. So my husband has got a job offer out of the EU, and with long discussions he is going to take it, if he finds it ok, myself and the kids will follow in a few months, in the meantime my nerves where gone about our home, so we went to a solicitor for advise, he was very good and to the point, he said we should take the chance of moving as we are in so much NE, and he will take on the sale of our home, he said the bank wont let the sale go ahead as we will not be telling the bank where we are gone, but he said after a few months they might agree, i know we will still owe the NE, but he said they can't serve us as it will cost a lot of money to go half way around the world, i asked can we go to prison for this and he said no, it's not a criminal offence, i am still very nervous, can anyone give me some advice please.thank you

You will not go to prison. He is correct in what he says. You could approach the bank yourself and explain that you cannot afford it and agree to hand over the house. They will try and press you for more money but just tell them what you already have, i.e. you cannot afford it. Don't give any forwarding address and most importantly, don't worry. Start anew and best of luck.

@Kimjen

Is what you are saying - if we abandon the house - and there is a shortfall on sale - can the Bank pursue us?

The answer is they could. The real question is will they.

H/ever:

What is value of house?

What is mortgage balance?

Have you a tracker?

Rentals are trending at 9% of current market values - depending where you are.
You could rent the property out - and it could pay the interest and some of the capital.

I wouldn't be panicking on any of this.

If you want to meet to discuss let me know. Or else we can have the discussion here.

If your new solicitor knows where you are moving to then I would suggest you do not use him for any negotiation with the bank.

Your mortgage is quite clearly unsustainable, why not write to the bank and tell them so and ask them can you sell it.

My solicitor knows the country we are hoping to move too,he won't
Know our address as we will be in contact through email,
If we ask the bank can we sell and they agree we will have to pay the shortfall, my husband will only be earning enough money for us to get by on,
So what can we do, we can't rent as we will also have a shortfall of 600 euros a month.

If where you move to means you cannot repay the shortfall, then you simple do not pay the shortfall. People are entitled to rent and live a reasonable life, something you quite clearly have not been doing for some time. Take this opportunity to move, your solicitor has even advised you to do so.

Probably the stress is not helping you to see the situation more clearly. A good job in a new country for you and your 4 children sounds like heaven compared to what your life is now.

Thanks for that Bronte, you have brighten up my day........ you give sensible advice.

kimjen said:

If we ask the bank can we sell and they agree we will have to pay the shortfall, my husband will only be earning enough money for us to get by on

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Well whatever about the bank and the house, if your husband is only going to be earning enough to get by, then it is a very iffy plan!

First of all to move with a family requires a fair bit of cash to cover deposits, fees and so on. Secondly most people totally underestimate the living costs in the first year or two and that coupled with limited or no credit facilities puts them under pressure right from the start. On top of that you need to keep in mind that you may have limited access to social services, healthcare and so on. And that is not even touching on culture shock etc....

My advice is that before you jump, make sure that you have built up some funds before you do and redo all your budgets assuming everything costs say 10 or 12 percent more than you expect and see how the numbers look. Then pay particular attention to what kind of deposits and fees you might have to pay up front.

I know it may seem very attractive to get out and go some where else, but I've seen too many people who came here purely for economic reasons crash and burn, without raising a word of caution.

Jim2007 said:

Well whatever about the bank and the house, if your husband is only going to be earning enough to get by, then it is a very iffy plan!

.

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Don't agree totally with you. Anything has got to be better than the dole, they have already secured one person's employment and can live on that the OP said. They presumably are only going to go into more arrears by staying and ultimately losing the house anyway, plus job prospects are slim to none.

But you're totally right that they need to get a lump sum together to get them through the first few months. If everything crashes and burns they can ultimately return to Ireland if need be. But it's worth a go based on what the OP has posted.