The Times - UK - 04.12.2021

the times | Saturday December 4 2021 69

Money

W

hen I divorced my
ex-husband in 2014
I found out that he
had credit card debt
of £10,700 that he
wasn’t paying. HSBC had put a
charge against our home to secure re-
payment. I objected to the charging
order and this went to court, but the
judge overruled my appeal because
my ex had a share in the property so
the charging order remained.
I stayed in the house with our two
adopted children and my ex-husband
moved out. I did not ask for any fi-
nancial support and he didn’t offer. I
was worried about him running up
more debt against the property, so I
removed his name from the deeds.
My divorce papers state that my
ex-husband would be responsible for
clearing the debt but would not be re-
sponsible for anything further with
regard to the house.
When I wanted to sell the property
this year, the charging order came to
light again and it appeared that the
debt had increased due to interest.
I called HSBC and spoke to some-
one in the litigation department but
they were unwilling to talk to me
because the debt wasn’t in my name.
My solicitor talked to them on my
behalf and she said it would be
reasonable to offer payment of 30 per
cent to get the charge removed. How-
ever, HSBC said it was unwilling to
remove the charge unless it was paid
in full. I then offered to pay half but
also stressed the importance of get-
ting it sorted quickly because my

completion date was getting closer.

HSBC didn’t even respond.

I managed to pull together nearly

£11,000 to clear the debt, but as this

was an unexpected cost I have no

money left to decorate my new

house. I would really like the full

amount back if possible.

Name and

address supplied

Troubleshooter says

As you know, having a charging order

registered on your home at the Land

Registry means that you can’t sell the

house without repaying the debt.

While the debt was in your ex’s

name, at the time of the charging or-

der hearing the deeds for your home

were still in both of your names. This

meant that HSBC was entitled to put

a charge on his share of the property.

Even when you removed your ex

from the deeds (which you said he

agreed “without any financial loss to

yourself”), he was still supposed to

clear the £11,000 debt as part of your

divorce settlement. When he didn’t,

the bank said that because the whole

property was now in your name, the

charging order was your responsibili-

ty.

To make matters worse, as I under-

stand it, the lawyer at HSBC who got

the 50 per cent offer from your solici-

tor failed to communicate this with

the person dealing with your case.

But the bank did spring into action

when you paid the full amount and

removed the order so that you could

complete your house sale. HSBC has

‘Uninsured driver cost gran £5,600’

We have spent the past 21 months

trying to resolve a car insurance

problem and you are our last

hope.

In October 2019 I was driving

my grandmother’s car with her in

the passenger seat. We were in

the slow lane on the M25 when

we were hit on the driver’s side

by a heavy duty vehicle

attempting to move into our lane.

This caused significant damage

to the side of my grandma’s car.

Luckily, considering the size of

the vehicle that hit us, the car

was still usable and we were both

unharmed. Both vehicles pulled

onto the hard shoulder, where

the driver of the HGV said he

didn’t see us and apologised. We

exchanged details and left the

scene. We also took pictures of

the HGV, which showed its

number plate. When we returned

home we tried to contact the

driver using the details he had

given, only to discover they were

false details.

We contacted the police, who

weren’t able to prosecute. We

have contacted Citizens Advice

and numerous solicitors but no

one was able to help. We then

contacted the Motor Insurers’

Bureau, which compensates

victims of uninsured drivers

[funded by a levy on the industry]

and waited nine months. In the

end it said it couldn’t help despite

finding out the insurer for the

HGV, Great Lakes, and suggested

we take it up with the company

So we contacted Great Lakes

and were told that the vehicle

was in breach of its terms

because it didn’t have a dashcam

fitted, therefore making the

insurance invalid. It wasn’t clear

if the insurer could help.

We are now left with £5,600

worth of damage to the car, with

nobody accepting liability.

Holly Sale

St Albans, Hertfordshire

Troubleshooter says

Being involved in a car accident

is stressful enough without

needing to go into battle with

insurance companies. I spoke to

the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, a

not-for-profit organisation that

provides compensation to over

26,000 people a year.

The MIB said that despite

whoever hit your grandmother’s

car being in breach of his policy’s

terms and conditions, Great

Lakes was still responsible for the

damages. It said that Great Lakes

should have dealt with it as an

“article 75” issue, where an

insurer should accept liability in

certain cases.

I turned to the insurance group

Munich RE, the parent group for

Great Lakes, and asked it to look

into your case.

It refused to comment on the

individual claim, so I couldn’t get

any real answers about why the

insurer had left you £5,600 out of

pocket for such a long time. The

only thing it told me was that it

would follow up on this matter

and “take appropriate action”.

Great Lakes has now paid out

and you are relieved it’s over.

You said your grandma had not

carried out the repair work

because she had been worried

about destroying the physical

evidence, so is now finally

able to get her car repaired.

It’s just a shame that it has

taken two years.

‘My ex’s £11k debt is on my house’

Katherine

Denham

Times Money

Mentor

Troubleshooter

also said that, despite being legally

entitled to seek repayment of the full

balance it has decided to refund you

half — £5,500.

HSBC said: “We are sorry to hear

about Ms Sier’s experience of getting

a charging order removed from her

property. We have now refunded the

overpaid amount.”

As it was your ex’s debt, I asked

HSBC if it would refund the other

£5,500 too and chase him for the full

cost. But the bank said it wasn’t able

to. You said this was disappointing

and I agree. After all, it was his debt,

not yours.

Victoria Teymourian-Yates from

law firm Laurus said you could apply

to the court to enforce your divorce

settlement and get your ex to pay

legal costs, but warned that court pro-

ceedings can be long and stressful.

Money Mentor

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London SE1 9GF or

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