Can a creditor sell a jointly-owned house for the debt of one part owner of the house?
My father and I own our home as joint tenants. I am the borrower and my father the co-signor on our mortgage. Mortgage payments are up to date. My father has an unsecured loan on which he has defaulted. The creditor is threatening to sell our house. Can they do that, seeing that I have a fifty-percent stake and mortgage payments are up to date?
Posted from: Ontario
This is really a question that is better put to a lawyer, not a trustee. But the short answer is yes, a creditor could force the sale of the house in a situation like this. It is a bit of a process and would involve getting the court to bless this partition and sale, but it is possible. However, it is more likely that they would simply register a Writ of Enforcement against the property and then wait until the house is sold or the mortgage needs to be renewed.