FAO Mel There was no such discussion about the possibility of selling our house at the time the IVA was set up. The condition is written in to the original documentation, however, it is only at this stage that it has become apparent that we have to sell our house. It is a massive shock! Having struggled to meet the £490 per month payments for the last four and a half years to be now faced with this is absolutely devastating. We thought our house was secure if we agreed to an IVA, had we known it was ever at threat we would not have agreed to such a thing. Even as I read the wording of the condition now, it does not make it entirely obvious that it was intended that we sell our home. There is another condition which states that if we are unable to re-mortgage our property then the IVA provider can extend the monthly payments for up to 12 months yet this seems to be being ignored in favour of selling our home. According to the one valuation we have had on our home it's value, less our current mortgage creates around £100,000 equity, although I think the valuation is a somewhat on the high side. Even if it were reduced it would still leave significant equity which we can not realise because of our limited income. The joint IVA was originally for £98,000 and the largest creditor was HMRC at £24,000, our £490 monthly payments are up to date. I can't tell you how horrendously stressful this situation is, just at a time when we thought things should be a little more optimistic we have been dropped this bombshell. Our IVA company seems to have little sympathy or to date able to offer an alternative solution, I have asked them what we can do to avoid selling our home and the only response is that they have written to HMRC to request their "comments"! Is there anything we can do to avoid selling our home? Or is this the end?
Didn't you read the IVA documents thoroughly in advance - notwithstanding such an important proposal term ought to have been fully highlighted to you prior to you signing.
Which firm are you with, and have you considered taking any legal advice? Given the materiality of the sums concerned, I would strongly recommend that you do.
