There are no legal protections or laws that may grant you a free residence, as stated.

Using Magna Carta rights, arguing over signatures, and claiming “strawman status” are just a few of the ways borrowers have attempted to avoid paying their mortgage.

This year, while households are being affected by the biggest cost of living crisis in a generation, hundreds of thousands of households will see huge increases in their payback obligations.

However, adhering to risky urban legends spread online might result in borrowers losing their homes.

By the end of June 2022, more than 200,000 households would already be behind on their payments, according to the Financial Conduct Authority.

The City watchdog has warned that an additional 356,000 mortgage borrowers may experience payment issues by the end of June 2024. Many of these borrowers owe thousands of pounds in missing payments.

If debtors are in danger of failing, they should discuss their worries with their lender right once and come to an agreement on a repayment schedule.

Families are being cautioned not to believe the mortgage myths propagated on social media and internet blogs, which assert that borrowers can avoid paying their mortgage due to illogical technicalities.

“These types of myths have been going around for years – if I had a pound for every person who insisted their mortgage was not enforceable because of a loophole in the contract I’d be rich,” said Martyn James, a consumer advocate who spent nine years working at the Financial Ombudsman Service.

“I have seen people lose their homes because they wouldn’t concede to the truth and were so swayed by the urban legend they had read online.”

The Magna Carta does not relieve you of the need to make mortgage payments.

Borrowers have advanced a plethora of cases to the Ombudsman in recent years, arguing that due to rights provided by historical authorities, they are exempt from repaying their mortgage.

In one instance, a couple submitted a letter template they had acquired from the internet that cited the Magna Carta from the 13th century and the Bill of Rights from the 17th century as evidence that their mortgage was not binding or legally enforceable.

The accusations were all too common, according to the ombudsman’s decision in the case. The internet is rife with hazardous conspiracies that propagate the notion that the British laws and the government have no authority over the populace and that borrowers are not obligated to repay loans.

“I have seen people cite random laws and swear oaths that by the letter of the law they are not required to repay their mortgage,” said Mr. James. However, there are no legal protections and no laws that would grant you free housing.

The assertions are widespread on social media sites, and while some people may be intentionally and maliciously disseminating the misconceptions, others may honestly believe they are legal authorities.

No, you are not a’strawman’

Financial Conduct Authority, a city watchdog, issued a warning in September of last year about con artists preying on those who were having financial issues and promising to assist them eliminate their debt in exchange for a hefty price.

These businesses promote conspiracies including the “strawman,” “freeman of the land,” and “sovereign citizen,” all of which are terms frequently employed by tax protesters to avoid their legal obligations.

According to the “strawman” idea, a person has two personas: their physical body and the strawman, which is their legal existence. Theorists of the idea hold that legal obligations like paying taxes and keeping promises are the responsibility of the strawman, not the actual person.

Although the theory is full of intricate wormholes, some borrowers have ultimately used it to argue that they are exempt from making mortgage payments because their “strawman” persona is in charge of doing so. Some people have even asserted that the bank must reimburse all prior mortgage payments made on this basis.

The more desperate a situation becomes, the more a borrower can cling to irrational notions, according to Mr. James.

The mortgage deed does not require your bank to sign it.

Although it is false, desperate borrowers have asserted that a contract is invalid because their lender did not sign the mortgage deed. In the great majority of house loans, only the borrower, and not the lender, is legally obliged to sign a mortgage deed.

These theories, according to the ombudsman, “have no basis in law, logic, or common sense.”