Property repossession and bankruptcy in the UK

[Danvers1000]

Myself and my wife purchased a property via a swiss franc mortgage through the now defunct Laiki Bank. As with most people the mortgage has almost trebled in repayments and the capital has increased significantly. Currently the property is in negative equity by about €100k.

Neither of us own any property in the UK or have any UK assets. We both live in Portugal in a rented property where I work as a contractor.

We stopped paying the mortgage around 6 months ago as it was impossible to keep up payments. The bank have terminated the loan and have said they will take legal proceedings.

My question is that I want to know if anyone has been made bankrupt in the UK by any Cyprus banks or if they can only get a CCJ against you in the UK?

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Danvers1000 and welcome to the forum.

It is essential that you defend the action in Cyprus - either in person or through your lawyer. If you do not the bank will win the case as you/your lawyer failed to defend the action and you could end up with a heap of problems.

The bank will obtain an EU enforcement order, which enables it to apply to any court in the EU for a money judgement against you - be that Spain, UK, Italy or any other EU member state.

There's an article at Do not ignore Cypriot bank writs for loan non-payment that explains the situation in more depth.

If you don't have a lawyer in Cyprus, I suggest to speak to a couple on the list provided by the British High Commission in Nicosia.

Regards,