In 1989 Mr Bajwa bought a house with the help of a loan from the Halifax Building Society, in whose favour he executed a mortgage over the property. Unfortunately, he was unable to keep up his payments on the mortgage, and the Halifax won a suspended order for possession. However, since he had found buyers for the house, the Halifax agreed in August 1990 not to enforce the order, but instead to let the sale go through and to recover its debt out of the sale proceeds. At this juncture, he owed the Halifax £141,222.40. Mr Bajwa exchanged contracts to sell the property for £165,000, a deposit was paid, the sale