There was a victory for joe public recently when the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of a Jayne Hewett, a mother who was threatened by repossession. Mrs Hewett ended up facing repossession after taking out a remortgage on their family home to pay off her husband’s credit card debts.
At the time she remortgaged, Mr Hewett was having a secret affair after which he moved out of the house, leaving his wife and two children to pay for the mortgage. As a result of the divorce, sole ownership of the house was transferred to Mrs Hewett but she was unable to make the repayments.
Thankfully, the Court of Appeal in London and Mr Justice Briggs found in favour of Mrs Hewett and that Mr Hewett was guilty of a ‘deliberate concealment’ that ‘impacted on his wife’s decision to go ahead with the remortgage’. Under the conditions of the ruling, lender, First Plus Financial Group, can still repossess the house, but Mrs Hewett should be able to keep half sale price achieved by the mortgage provider.
