The main question people have when they
come to us regarding Bankruptcy is usually 'Can I keep my house?' and in many
cases the answer is yes, you can manage to keep your house.
The only reason you are going to be forced
to sell your family home when you file for bankruptcy is actually because you
have so much equity in the home that it is viewed as an asset. Please go over
these straightforward hypothetical case studies below to get your head around Bankruptcy
and how it affects houses in Australia. Remember If you have to know more about
Bankruptcy and houses feel free to consult with us here at Bankruptcy Advice
Melbourne on 1300 879 867, or go to our website:
www.bankruptcy-advice.com.au/Melbourne.com.au
Case Study 1. (Mike & Sue Smith).
5 years ago Mike and Sue bought a house in
a mining town for $450,000. At this time the mining boom was helping keep all
the property prices nice and high. Now they are needing to look at Bankruptcy
because they have massive debts of $80,000 on top of their mortgage and credit
card and tax debt.
They really want to keep their house but wonder
if they can, they know that house prices if anything have gone down in the area
in the last 5 years so to be safe they think that their home is still only
worth $450,000 after all these years, to make sure they searched
www.realestate.com.au/ sold section of the website to see what other houses in
the streets close by have sold for lately.
Unfortunately they have not paid any
principal of the home loan over the last 5 years, mainly just interest, so they
still owe $450,000.
Current House Value = $450,000.
Current Mortgage Value = $450,000.
Net Equity Value = $0.
Because there is no equity in this
particular property the trustee will not ask Mike and Sue to sell their home
when they go bankrupt, as long as they keep up the mortgage payments then all will
be well for these people for the 3 years they are in bankruptcy.
At the end of the bankruptcy period of time
the trustee will write to them and ask if they want to take over ownership of
their house again and so long as it has not increased in price over the 3 years
they have been bankrupt they will be asked to make an offer to have their house
back. This is typically somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 to cover the legal
costs of altering the land title deed etc.
Now let's take a look at a slightly different
example of Bankruptcy and houses.
Case Study 2. (Bill & Michelle
Johnson).
2 years ago Bill and Michelle bought a
townhouse in a lovely suburb of Melbourne for $850,000 they tipped in $50,000
as a deposit and now the townhouse two years later is worth $900,000.
Current House Value = $900,000.
Current Mortgage Value = $800,000.
Net Equity Value = $100,000.
Due to a recent business failing Bill is
about $240,000 in debt. Michelle who does work in banking has a separate job
and no other debt apart from the mortgage. Bill cannot pay his debts therefore
he is reviewing Bankruptcy. Michelle is concerned that she too may need to
declare bankruptcy or be obliged into it because of the house loan.
With this particular case the trustee is
required to access or get their hands on Bill's half of the equity which is
$50,000 less selling costs. They might do this in a few ways; 1. Make them sell
the home. 2. Invite Michelle to buy Bills half of the equity. 3. leave them in
the home - but It's very unlikely in this particular case that the trustee
would be happy to leave Bill and Michelle in the house because there is just
too much equity.
So Michelle may have the chance to purchase
Bill's share of the equity by coming up with $50,000 and buying out Bills' half
and from that moment its now 100 % Michelle's house.
Property and Bankruptcy in Australia is
confusing and complicated, these two case studies above are just the tip of the
iceberg as far as your options in Melbourne are concerned. If you need to know
more about Bankruptcy and houses feel free to call us here at Bankruptcy Advice
Melbourne on 1300 879 867, or go to our website:
www.bankruptcy-advice.com.au/Melbourne.com.au.
