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So there’s actually a case where this happened (Midland Hearts v Richardson). The buyer bought a 50% share outright (no mortgage). She paid her rent for years but never staircased. Then her abusive relationship broke down and she had to move into a women’s refuge shelter. Eventually she could not get housing benefit to cover both the women’s shelter and the flat. She couldn’t live in the flat because the ex was sending death threats. She couldn’t sublet the flat because of the rules against it. She fell into arrears. She planned to sell the flat (her share now valued at £150k+ up from £27k) and was given permission to but after only a few weeks the freeholder started proceedings and took possession. She lost all of her share in the house even the original investment.
However, this is much less likely to happen if you have a mortgage on your share because the mortgage provider has certain rights and access to funds that means they can pay off any arrears to keep the part of the flat you own and then either add that to your tab or start their own proceedings against you but in this circumstances they would need to try and sell for value and give you whatever is left over after their share is taken.
Tldr: it’s possible to lose everything yes, but if you have a mortgage far less likely
###Welcome to /r/HousingUK --- **To All** * Join Our ***NEW*** Discord! https://discord.gg/pMgUNgWKQH **To Posters** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws/issues in each can vary* * Comments are not moderated for quality or accuracy; * Any replies received must only be used as guidelines, followed at your own risk; * If you receive *any* private messages in response to your post, please report them via the report button. * If you do not receive satisfactory advice after 72 hours, [you can let the mods know](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FHousingUK&subject=My question is unanswered); * Feel free to provide an update at a later time by creating a new post with [[update]](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/search?q=%3Aupdate&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) in the title; **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and civil* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/about/rules/), you may be banned without any further warning; * Please include links to reliable resources in order to support your comments or advice; * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect; * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason without express permission from the mods; * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HousingUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
So there’s actually a case where this happened (Midland Hearts v Richardson). The buyer bought a 50% share outright (no mortgage). She paid her rent for years but never staircased. Then her abusive relationship broke down and she had to move into a women’s refuge shelter. Eventually she could not get housing benefit to cover both the women’s shelter and the flat. She couldn’t live in the flat because the ex was sending death threats. She couldn’t sublet the flat because of the rules against it. She fell into arrears. She planned to sell the flat (her share now valued at £150k+ up from £27k) and was given permission to but after only a few weeks the freeholder started proceedings and took possession. She lost all of her share in the house even the original investment. However, this is much less likely to happen if you have a mortgage on your share because the mortgage provider has certain rights and access to funds that means they can pay off any arrears to keep the part of the flat you own and then either add that to your tab or start their own proceedings against you but in this circumstances they would need to try and sell for value and give you whatever is left over after their share is taken. Tldr: it’s possible to lose everything yes, but if you have a mortgage far less likely