Can the state half own a house?

random10

We made an offer on a house 4 months ago. We were told the house was owned by a couple, the man was bankrupt but the house was in the woman's name. Estate agent said the couple were happy with out offer but they had to wait for the banks to approve the offer, no news until this week when the estate agent rings to say that now the woman owns half the house and the state owns half the house. The state have the estate agents phone number and will contact him but this could take days, weeks or even months. EA said he can't contact state solicitors. Does this sound like a normal situation, or is the EA telling us lies?

ted1

If by state they mean council, then yes as it could be shared ownership

L1011

If they're in shared ownership this is possible, and if this is the case you are going to waiting a LONG time.

Another possibly is that your solicitor miscommunicated something and you've got a situation where the official assignee now holds the half the house that was previous the bankrupt guys, and she still owns her half. This is a different, also utter mess, of a situation.

riclad

THERE,S shared ownership,
where you buy a house from the council, 50/50 buy , rent ,
then eventually you switch over to a full 100 per cent mortgage.

I don,t know if it applys in this case.

MY advice move on,look, at other houses ,
or wait a few months see what happens ,if YOU ARE not in a hurry to buy a house.

i think if you are married the wife has certain rights, on the house ,
even if the man pays the mortgage ,and the loan is in his name .
ie its regarded as the family home .
if someone is bankrupt,
I thought thats it,
no creditor can come back and ask for payment,
unless the bank or some other government body EG Local authority owns part of the house.

EG local authoritys have rules ,they can vet or stop the purchase of an council house,by any person,
eg to stop investors buying say 10 houses in an estate

you should ask, is part of the house owned by the local authority,
eg dublin city council ?
is this a local authority estate?

random10

This is definitely not a council house. This was owned by a wealthy family who have lots of properties. They never lived in this house, it was a holiday home to them

riclad

SO if the house is sold the state will get half the money,
its probably the situation is the woman will need permission from the
state to sell the house ,
There,s probably some court that has control over the husband s

finances for 5 years under bankruptcy law too.
so in the case of this sale there may be 3 lawyers involved,
your lawyer and the sellers lawyer and some official who represents the state.

L1011

random10 wrote: »

This is definitely not a council house. This was owned by a wealthy family who have lots of properties. They never lived in this house, it was a holiday home to them

Sounds like bankruptcy/ assignee situation to me then. This can and will most likely take months

The_Conductor

MYOB wrote: »

Sounds like bankruptcy/ assignee situation to me then. This can and will most likely take months

Or years.

If one spouse is declared bankrupt- their portion of a property- even their PPR, resides in the Insolvency Service concerned. If they and/or the other spouse wish to remain in the property- they would have to buy out the share vested in the insolvency service.

Typically- this can take months- or even years. Under the new insolvency act- even after a person is discharged from bankruptcy- the asset is no longer theirs, and they have no rights to it.

riclad

IM, not an expert ,i heard on the radio ,if person is bankrupt ,it lasts for 5 years.
there was something about if the person gets a lump sum in the 5 year period half the money goes to the creditors.
This may refer to someone who goes for insolvency ,eg not quite the same as going bankrupt.
i think insolvency law only came into effect last week.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/debt/personal_insolvency/personal_insolvency_options.html

The_Conductor

riclad wrote: »

IM, not an expert ,i heard on the radio ,if person is bankrupt ,it lasts for 5 years.
there was something about if the person gets a lump sum in the 5 year period half the money goes to the creditors.
This may refer to someone who goes for insolvency ,eg not quite the same as going bankrupt.
i think insolvency law only came into effect last week.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/debt/personal_insolvency/personal_insolvency_options.html

The Insolvency Service commenced accepting application, last Monday- the law itself had a prior commencement date.

At the commencement of the insolvency (which is a personal bankruptcy arrangement- they are one and the same)- a persons assets- including their half share in the family home, become vested in the Insolvency Officer- whose job it is, is to realise whatever he can for the creditors of the person being declared insolvent.

If a spouse wishes to remain in the family- they must buy back that share (for what its worth) from the Insolvency Officer- they are not allowed remain in the family, irrespective of their half share of the family home- and the family home (or farm- or any other asset) can be sold at the discretion of the Insolvency Officer (who will in due course disburse half the net proceeds to the partner not declared insolvent- keeping the other half for creditors, less costs.

Its actually quite straight forward and reasonably easy to understand.