In which case the underlying law - The Housing Act 1988 - kicks in to give both tenants and landlords protection and a default contract - an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (England & Wales) or a Short Assured Tenancy (Scotland).
Recovering documentation from Tesco and the bank is easy for the son to do. He needs to serve each with a subject access request along with the £10 fee -
If the house is considered to be insured then that is the end of the problem.
If it is uninsured then since the sister has no other assets she should consider bankruptcy rather than having the mortgage debt hanging over her for the rest of her life -
Why would who pay the premiums?
The policyholder - because they had a legal obligation to do so. I bet you that the company would chase the debt if they didn't have an outstanding claim that they could wheedle out of by not doing so.
The claimant - because they do have a claim.
tim
Err - you were talking about the "claimants" weren't you? Then that's who "they" are...
"tim...." wrote
Err - I asked " ... IF THEY *DIDN'T* HAVE THE CLAIM" Well, what's the answer?
In message , kkm writes
I cannot understand how they could say that he was uninsured at the time of the accident because as far as I am concerned he was still insured on the day it happened. If they have a dispute with him post event that should not have affected your claim.
Please explain? I know people who have had this happen to them (Husband dies with all couple's money in his account. Wife left unable to pay bills etc).
Sorry I did misread the question.
Of course they wouldn't pay the premium if they didn't have a claim.
But if there wasn't a claimant, the policy holder wouldn't have had an accident. As he would pay it, there's no issue here, is there.
tim
Usually a c*ck up by the bank.
It isn't meant to work this way and didn't when I had to execute a will
tim
Banks are supposed to freeze accounts in the name of the deceased until Grant of Probate. In the meantime, the only expenses that funds in the account can be used for is funeral expenses.
Chris
When I rented, 30 years ago, I was advised that I should insure the buildings as a tenant because the owners insurance would have a right of subrogation against me if I accidentally burned it down. i.e. the oweners indurer would pay him but they would then sue me.
These days this no longer seems to be the case and the tenant has no insurable interest.
Robert
Two things. Firstly, in answer to the last post, I believe that my sister would be perfectly within her rights to sue her son for the loss of her house. That course of action demonstrates 'insurable interest' I would have thought.
Secondly, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed. It has given us hope and shown us some of the things that we need to be doing. I am sorry some of the information is vague but I am very much reliant on getting answers to questions from people who don't seem to know how to get answers. I am hugely frustrated and am getting a sore foot from kicking arses. It now looks very much as if the last 2 payments were not made to the insurer but I am being assured that the insurer was given the correct bank information in good time and also that no reminder letters have been received. I find this hard to believe but can do no more until it is proved one way or another. The young couple met their MP on Saturday and he is ordering all relevant documents from Tesco so that he can get to the bottom of it. Until that has happened I don't want to waste any more of anyone's time based on speculation. You've all been great and I appreciate your efforts. Thanks ;-)
"tim...." wrote
"tim...." wrote
Yes, there is an issue! - as the p/h didn't pay it when there *was* a claim, why do you think he'd pay it if there *wasn't* a claim?
The banks have to know about the death.
because the company would chase him for the money
tim
Oh, so you're suggesting that they'd chase *if* there wasn't a claim, but *not* chase if there was? You mean you expect them to have their cake *and* eat it?
I hadn't realised that was what you were saying...
No, I'm not saying that I expect this. it seems to be what they actually did
tim
An update:
As I suspected, I have been given incorrect information about the insurance payments and Tesco are quite within their rights to have cancelled the policy. My sister has been foolish in leaving her son to deal with such an important matter, and the son has been foolish and neglectful in his disregard for the many reminder letters he has ignored. This thread has concentrated on the insurance angle which was never my original question, but I hope the discussion serves as a lesson to others who may be leaving 'tennants' to deal with such a vital matter.
Getting back to my original post, we are now faced with a burnt out shell, a large mortgage and no source of income. From the advices posted so far I think we can only talk to the Building Society and seek their advice and guidance. With any luck they will repossess the property, recover as much as they can from an auction sale, and write- off the outstanding balance. If they don't write-off the balance, then bankruptcy seems to be the way to go. I guess my sister could look to sell at auction herself, in the hope of raising more than the BS would, but I doubt it would make a lot of difference.
Any further suggestions would be appreciated.
Depending on the size of the plot, the other option open to your sister would be to try to sell the plot for development. Or at least find out if there are any builders who are interested.
But this would have to be approved by the BS.
If you can get the BS working with/for you this may reduce the outstanding monies to a point they will write off.
Flop
Oddly enough, several houses have been sold locally at greater than market place prices purely for the plots.
Yes, she might as well have asked a neighbour to arrange and pay the insurance premiums on her house.
No one is going to take buildings insurance seriously unless they have a direct financial interest (eg. risk losing a few £100K of their own money).
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