Abandoned House with Judgment Mortgage

aine_canby

I live next door to a large abandoned house in South East that is going to rack and ruin. I downloaded the folio and the house is owned by a local builder, but it has a Judgment Mortgage on it as a consequence of a court case involving a Major Bank. After this, the house was for sale via a local Estate Agent, who kept fobbing me off when I tried enquiring about it. There was also a number of incorrect rumours flying around town about not only this house but mine too, things like "did I hear that the two houses are on the one folio?". Furthermore, the builder and estate agent are friends. I have seen the builder briefly visiting the house on a few occasions over the last few years, so I don't know what his hopes are regarding it. What options does he have? Can he have the Judgment Mortgage cleared? Can he develop the property?

My concerns are as follows. I hate to see the house abandoned like this and would obviously like to see a family move in there. If I could afford it, I might even be interested in buying the house myself but I've no idea what its worth in its current state. There are also a number of "duty of care" issues regarding the neighbouring house which I would like to see addressed. But to be honest I don't want to cross the owner...

Should I contact the bank asking them if the property is for sale? Is there anything else I can do to establish its current status. I don't trust the estate agent.

Thank you,

Áine

bleary

It's a pain in the rear end. Not a heap you can do but you can contact your local council the derelict sites unit and see if they can contact the owner. In theory they could cpo the property . In practice they may just send a letter.
Also you could see if you got any advice from the vacant housing unit in the dept of housing.
In they UK the council are obliged to maintain the property and reclaim costs from owner if its damaging neighbouring property.
Not in Ireland of course

LirW

I'd try to look into "Adverse possession".
Is there an interest of the owner and EA to actually sell the house? Would contacting the owner be of any use for you? In your position I might get in touch with them and explain your situation and that you'd be interested in buying.

It is a massive pain in the hole, there are plenty of abandoned, builder's finish properties around where I live that are just left to rot away happily yet with a bit of elbow grease they'd be lovely.

Del2005

LirW wrote: »

I'd try to look into "Adverse possession".
Is there an interest of the owner and EA to actually sell the house? Would contacting the owner be of any use for you? In your position I might get in touch with them and explain your situation and that you'd be interested in buying.

It is a massive pain in the hole, there are plenty of abandoned, builder's finish properties around where I live that are just left to rot away happily yet with a bit of elbow grease they'd be lovely.

The builder is on site regularly so adverse possession is not going to happen.

Homer

The folio should tell you who the current owner of the property is (I.e. what financial institution) and then try bypassing the estate agent and striking a deal with the bank. It’s unlikely but if they knew the EA was dicking about with the sale and possibly dealing the previous owner they might be interested.

BarraOG

Homer wrote: »

The folio should tell you who the current owner of the property is (I.e. what financial institution) and then try bypassing the estate agent and striking a deal with the bank. It’s unlikely but if they knew the EA was dicking about with the sale and possibly dealing the previous owner they might be interested.

The builder is the current owner and the bank has a Judgment Mortgage on it.

Muahahaha

Could be wrong but AFAIR judgement mortgages expire after 6 years. The builder might be in cahoots with the estate agent to run this six years down so the charge on the folio is lifted.

Does the folio mention which bank the judgement mortgage is in favour of? If so it might be worth going to them direct, not at branch level but the legal department of the bank HQ itself.