MORTGAGE MIS-SELLING

Many homeowners across the country are looking into their mortgages to find out if they were mis-sold by a negligent broker, lender or financial advisor.

If you have taken out a new mortgage, or further borrowing then there are obligations upon the broker, lender or financial advisor to ensure that the advice given to you took full account of your individual circumstances to ensure that any mortgage or further borrowing was both affordable and that the specific mortgage was in the interests of you. If there was a failure to do this then you may have a claim for mis-selling.

We can be reached on 01204 977 201 or by email at enquiries@sksolicitors.co.uk

The mortgage must be ‘regulated’ for a claim to be possible. In general terms, this means that:

• The borrower must be an individual or trustee;
• The lender must take a first legal charge over Property in the UK;
• At least 40% of the property must be occupied by the borrower or a member of their immediate family, or intended for their occupation.

As such the following are not regulated mortgages and you would be unable to make a claim:

• Buy-to-let mortgages, (unless the tenant is a member of the borrower’s immediate family, or the borrower intends to occupy the property at some stage);
• Second charge loans; and
• Loans to companies (except in the case of trustees).

A mortgage may have been mis-sold, if; at the time it was taken out, the lender, financial advisor or broker failed to:

• Properly assess your individual circumstances;
• Failed to provide information about the options available to you;
• Failed to provide a recommendation that reflected your personal circumstances.

Signs that a mortgage was mis-sold to you are:

• Inappropriately high-interest rates;
• Negative equity;
• High fees;
• Inability to pay mortgage and arrears;
• Repossession;
• Not having any repayment vehicle in place.

We can be reached on 01204 977 201 or by email at enquiries@sksolicitors.co.uk

You needn’t be concerned if the company which you used is no longer trading as we can forward your complaint to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“FSCS”). The FSCS can pay up to £50,000 per person per company (for claims against companies declared in default from 1 January 2010). The maximum level of compensation for claims against companies declared in default before 1 January 2010 is 100% of the first £30,000 and 90% of the next £20,000 (up to £48,000 per person per firm).

If a company is still trading, after submitting a complaint directly to them, a complaint can often be forwarded to the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) for mediation.

If you think that you were mis-sold a mortgage then let our solicitors help you to recover the compensation that you deserve.