You notice it in the pictures very first. In one of the ads that is out right now, the bed is not even made up. Blue-flowered bed linen is thrown over the left side of the mattress. The gray sheet that has been pulled over it looks dirty, black stains crawling over the light cotton fabric. Someone just got up. Or not laid here for a long, long time. In the pictures from the bathroom, there is a single bottle of “Head and shoulders” in the shower. A used towel hangs over the shower wall, and in the corner someone has thrown a pair of dirty socks. This is no ordinary housing advertisement. There have been no visiting stylists, no one has put random citrus fruits in bowls in the kitchen or decorative cushions on the sofa. The sender is not a brokerage house, but a lawyer. And in small print, hidden between other sales information in the prospectus, is the word that gives meaning to the pictures: forced sale. The shame A few years ago it was Eline’s house that was there in full public view. Undressed and “revealed”. We get in touch with her on Facebook. She would like to tell, she writes. – But it’s uncomfortable to talk about. So we take it in writing. Her name is not actually Eline, but the woman in her early forties lives in a small place. The conversation goes on, and the little family is not benefited by it, so we leave her anonymous. She remembers trying to clean as best she could before the photos were taken. But online it was clear that it was not a normal sale: the house appeared to be under renovation, all clothes and shoes were on display, the children’s rooms were filled with toys and posters, and on the walls you could find pictures of people who lived there. When the ad was posted, several people in the village noticed it. They sent screenshots to Eline with questions: “What happened?” “Why are you moving?” She was filled with shame when the questions came. – I felt that I had failed. Eline had not managed to pay her bills. And in the future, more people will struggle. Bill payment in “animal time” During 2022, we have moved into an economic period known as “animal time”. Everything becomes more expensive. Petrol and electricity, food and clothes and not least the mortgage. Researchers have seen that the number of Norwegian households that are considered financially secure has fallen from two-thirds to just under 50 per cent in the past year. Now twice as many are struggling financially, compared to last year. This is shown in a report from SIFO. There it emerges that there is a sharp increase in the use of loans to make ends meet. Fortunately, most still manage to keep their heads above water. But scientists are worried. – Sooner or later this animal age will lead to more defaults and perhaps also forced sales, says poverty researcher Christian Poppe. In December, the Debt Register writes on its pages that consumer debt increased significantly in November. They believe that “the trend cannot be mistaken”. When cost levels increase and more people have taken out consumer loans that they also have to service, it is expected that more people will have payment problems in 2023. – All the time a bit behind Eline was only 20 years old when she bought the house. It had views of both sea and mountains, and had been in the family for many years. The price was affordable, even for a young lady with a somewhat uncertain working life. For several years it went perfectly well, but it was difficult to find a permanent job that ensured a steady flow of money into the account. Due to health problems, Eline was called in sick several times, and each time that happened, she fell further and further behind with the bills. – I don’t quite remember which bill it started with, she says today. But she remembers that there was always a few kroner too little in the account, and always a bill too much. In the beginning, she solved it by asking for financial help from her family. – The problem then was that the money had to be paid back, which ended up with me constantly being a little behind, she says. And so it continued. – The bills are not put on hold After leaning on family for a while, the credit companies eventually became the savior. – It was a break in everyday life, one that gave the opportunity to live without worry for a short while, says Eline. It quickly went in the wrong direction. Before she had time to pay one of the bills, new ones started to appear. On credit cards, car loans and “other crap”. – You can concentrate on one bill, but the other bills will not be put on hold for that reason. With tight finances, you simply cannot afford for something unforeseen to happen, explains Eline. No emergency account with a buffer for broken fridges or car repairs. Two children and two relationships later, the debt collection cases had piled up. And the house, which she had bought from family many years earlier, was now in poor condition and crying out for upgrading. Interest and compound interest Eline applied for refinancing to refurbish the house. – Nothing had been done with it to reach today’s standard. It just about blew through it, the power lines and fuse box were out of date. But when the new kitchen furniture had to be screwed up and put together, everything stopped. – I had received a payment notice which resulted in the bank locking the construction loan. I was neither paid for materials nor paid for help. But the house was now under renovation and quite uninhabitable for a family with small children. The job had to be done. Eline contacted a financial adviser to try to collect loans and pay what she could, but now it had gone too far. Large and small loans she had taken out over several years had grown with interest and compound interest. – All that credit had to come and bite me in the butt, and it did. The house had to be sold. 7,000 homes a year Eline’s story is not unique. Every year for the past five years, around 7,000 homeowners have received the same message as her. The homes have usually gone into forced sale because one of the owners has not managed to pay the bills. If the debt is not paid, the creditor can go to the bailiff, who can resolve this in two ways. Either they deduct money from your salary, or they can take a lien on assets, a so-called foreclosure business. In the worst case – and after a long time – the house can be put up for sale. But only a tenth of all properties that are decided to be forcibly sold each year are actually sold. The rest solve it, perhaps by reducing expenses, selling off something they own, or getting a refinancing agreement so that the claims are deleted. Claims in the land register for one million In the land register for Eline’s house, the claims started coming in already three years after she moved in. A bill of over NOK 8,000 from Ellos, which sells clothes and interiors, remained unpaid for so long that the debt collection company notified the bailiff. Since then it has happened over 30 times, with bills from the insurance company, the municipality, car repair shop, hardware store, credit companies, nursery school and Nav. In total, she had a claim for close to one million kroner. Eline managed to clean up the finances five times after the house was first forced to be sold in 2009. – There were many hours on the phone, a lot of work to scrape together enough money, loans from family, overtime work and I got holiday money taken out in advance to get paid. But in the end it didn’t work anymore. Not an ordinary sale In order to make as much money as possible at the end, little is spent on preparing a home for forced sale. Often it is the appraiser who takes pictures while he or she is still visiting. Eline tried to do her part when it was her turn. – I am not obliged to wash and clean in the event of a forced sale, but I did the best I could. I filled bags and got it ready. To spare the children from the process, she ended up renting a house nearby. There, she first set about trying to sell the house herself. The court documents show that it was a very long process, the sale took several years. The lawyer who assisted in the forced sale tells news that he gave Eline both time to finish the renovation and to try to sell privately. When that didn’t work, the house was put up for forced sale. – The lawyer seemed fed up and lowered the price several times, says Eline. She felt that he wanted to finish quickly to get started on the next mission. For her, however, it was about the house she had lived in for 18 years, a home she did not want to leave, and the place where her two children had grown up. The house was sold, first once, but at a very low price. Then Eline chose to complain. She had bills to pay and wouldn’t accept that she was left unless she had once paid for the house herself. Her case then ended up in the Court of Appeal where she won and the house was tried to be sold again. This time a higher bid came in, which was finally approved. The process has left its mark, says Eline. – It was really tough. I think it will stay with me until I’m old. – I’m happy I don’t own anything. Housing ads with houses no one wants to sell keep appearing. With curtains drawn and toothbrushes standing in glass in the bathroom. In one advertisement, you can clearly see that the washing machine is still running. Eline says she wouldn’t even wish her worst enemy to go through the same thing. Shameful and lonely are descriptions she uses. – As of now, I’m happy I don’t own anything. Even if I have debt, I don’t have to be afraid that they will take anything, apart from my payment. The debt to Eline built up over many years. And even after the house is gone, much of the debt remains. The sale only resulted in a few of the demands from the creditors being met. Some went to a lawyer, a lot went to interest and costs. Eline has applied for a debt arrangement, but was told that the debt was not old enough. Today, the bailiff deducts a sum from the unemployment benefit every month. What is left is barely enough for rent, food and to provide the children with what they need. And even then, the debt continues to accrue interest. – You kind of stay in the same place. She says that life, as it has become, cannot be compared to a normal adult life. – I cannot take out insurance on the car, due to comments. I cannot arrange regular telephone subscriptions. I cannot help my children when they have to move away from home. You get the picture. – I simply have to come to terms with the fact that me and my family will live as poor for the rest of my life.
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The mother of two was unable to pay off the debt. In the end, Eline’s house was forcibly sold – Documentary
