Hello all!

I need some help. My wife and I moved to Tenerife and bought our house two and a half years ago. We are carrying a pretty large mortgage which has become too much for us to service. We having been fighting it for 6 months but we are at the stage were we just want to walk away from the property. Even though everything we have is invested in the property. Obviously we have tried selling the property at a low value.

We are told that if we walk away from the property the bank will issue an embargo which will turn our lives upside down. We are hearing all sorts of things about the power of this embargo, from accounts and cars being seized to a total shutdown of your life.

Can anyone tell us what will actually happen and if possible some advice in a direction that we have not considered would be good.

Hi,

With regard to your question, I don’t know the answer but what I would suggest in the first instance is that you speak to the lender to ask them if they can help you in any way, e.g. paying interest only or an extended term. Depending on your relationship with the bank you might consider asking them what happens if you do default on the mortgage and in what timescales. This would avoid the cost of consulting a lawyer which of course is a another option.

I am sure many people are in the same unfortunate position as yourselves and I hope you get some pointers from this forum.

doug6633d@hotmail.com - 05 September 2008 08:01 PM

Hello all!

I need some help. My wife and I moved to Tenerife and bought our house two and a half years ago. We are carrying a pretty large mortgage which has become too much for us to service. We having been fighting it for 6 months but we are at the stage were we just want to walk away from the property. Even though everything we have is invested in the property. Obviously we have tried selling the property at a low value.

We are told that if we walk away from the property the bank will issue an embargo which will turn our lives upside down. We are hearing all sorts of things about the power of this embargo, from accounts and cars being seized to a total shutdown of your life.

Can anyone tell us what will actually happen and if possible some advice in a direction that we have not considered would be good.

Hi. It’s true: as far as I know, if you stop paying the bank will issue an embargo on the property, and if its current market value is not sufficient to cover the mortage, on everything you HAVE IN SPAIN. Nevertheless, the current situation in Spain is so bad that banks have now a lot of properties they can’t sell and really don’t want any more, and this might turn out being useful for you. Have you tried to re-negotiate the mortage? That could be a solution and permit you to keep your property until you find a buyer. Furthermore, I red that already a couple of Comunidades (but I don’t remember which ones ...) have admitted the bankrupt of citizens who could demonstrate they were unable to go on paying their mortages. A lawyer will certainly give you more detailed information.
Suerte!