Repossession Report

This Repossession Report is copyrighted by The National Repossession Helpline.

The contents of this report may not be copied or displayed for commercial purposes without our consent. In preparing this report, we have tried to include accurate, complete and current information. However, we make no guarantees or warranties (express or implied) about the contents of this report. The information contained here is provided "AS IS" and we are not responsible for its use or misuse. We may change this report from time to time without notice or obligation to users.

The Repossession Report is published simply as a guide to help those facing Repossession understand more about the

1. Repossession Process
2. Useful Organisations that may help you
3. Potential Options

The purpose of this report is to provide you with some information about property repossession and from our experience to share with you the various options that are available.

Although repossessions are unfortunately increasing, please remember that there are very specific steps that can be taken to stop repossession and prevent you from losing your home.

By researching about repossession and wanting to stop it, you have taken the brave first step and we hope this guide will help you to your goal. Well Done!

1. What is Repossession
2. The Repossession Process & What to Do?
3. Your Options
4. Useful Contacts

When you miss a payment on your mortgage or a secured loan on your property then you fall into arrears and your lender will prepare to take legal action against you. As soon as you have fallen into to arrears you should contact your lender and follow this up in writing. The earlier you take action the more options you will have and the less you will have to pay in legal fees.

The Repossession Process has a number of distinct stages and can last a few weeks to many months. It is always possible to stop the repossession process at any stage and remember that mortgage companies always prefer to keep you in the property as long as you are paying the mortgage off; so they will only resort to eviction after everything else has failed.

Once you have missed the 1st payment the lender will write to you confirming that you are in arrears. In the letter they will ask you to make a prompt payment within 7 days to clear the arrears or ask you to make a suitable proposal to avoid further action. The charge for missing a payment and writing to you will be added to your loan.

If you fail to contact your lender, pay them back or cannot offer a suitable repayment plan then they are legally entitled to commence legal proceedings as long as you are 2 months in arrears. This would be the beginning of the repossession process and you are then at risk of losing your home. Your lender will normally write to you advising that a court order for possession has been applied for. Actions Call your lender immediately, take a record of who you speak to and note the date and then follow this up in writing. You may be able to rely on these notes later in court, but should take independent legal advice over this. Before you attend the Court hearing sit down in a quiet room with some pen and paper or a computer if you have one. Calculate all of your essential monthly outgoings and income and work out how much you can afford to repay the lenders.

If you have been unable to pay back the arrears and a possession order has been applied for by your lender, a judge will set a hearing date and the court will write to you requesting your attendance. Actions As soon as you receive this court summons you are advised to obtain advice immediately about your options and what to do next. Be sure to reply to the court if you do not want to damage your case further. You should find a solicitor to represent you in court and to develop your defence for the hearing. Make sure you attend. Ask you local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) to check if the notices served on you are correct and also in your entitlement for any Housing benefits and Legal Aid. If there is an error with the notices served then there is a strong chance the case for repossession will be void. Click this link to find your Local CAB office and at bottom of the page enter your postcode and click enter http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm. Feel free to contact any of the companies on the useful contacts page towards the end of this report.

During the hearing the judge will hear from you and the lender and come to a decision about what should happen next. This decision will depend on whether you can repay the mortgage and if the terms and period to make the repayments are acceptable. The courts do not like to repossessing properties so will try all that is possible to find a solution for you and the lender.

Some of the options open to the judge include: allowing you to stay in the property provided you keep to certain conditions, such as repaying the arrears in instalments; giving you time to sell your property to avoid repossession or deciding that you should be evicted. Actions remember your repayment plan and what you can comfortably afford.

Hopefully you will be able to agree a suitable arrears repayment plan, so that the Judge can issue a suspension order, which means that the repossession order is on hold for the short term. If you do not maintain the re payment schedule, then the lender can obtain an eviction order without further court hearings.

For a first hearing it is more than likely that more information will be required to make a decision so the case may be adjourned with a new hearing date set.

During the next hearing a suspended order will not normally be given unless there is a clear change of circumstance i.e. you can clear the arrears or have found a buyer that can purchase your property in 4 weeks or have increased your income/changed employers.

If the judge decides that you have to leave your home, the court order will set a date for you to leave. If you have not left by that date, your lender must apply for a warrant of execution so that a court bailiff can legally remove you from your home.

The Judge will order that you be evicted from your home if you cannot repay the arrears and ongoing mortgage payments. This order will set a final date for when you are to vacate your premises and normally this is within 14 and 28 days. Up to 6 weeks may be given if there is special circumstances i.e.

1. You are elderly
2. Very young children living at home
3. Suffering an illness

Your lender and the court will want to know what you can repay and when, so you must be ready to explain this. Make sure that you have worked out exactly what this is by calculating what the difference between all of your essential monthly outgoings and monthly income. Contact your lender (s) and ask them for redemption or settlement figures that are calculated 4 weeks from today.

This will then tell you how much secured debts has to be repaid in full, which helps you understand what cash would be left from the sale price of your property. E.g. Mortgage £100,000 + Secured Loan £10000 = £110,000 Total Secured Debts. If Sale Price of your property is £120,000; then you would have £10000 cash left on completion i.e. £120000 - £110000.

Once you have received your redemption figures and managed to write down all of your monthly income and expenditure, you will know what you can afford. Please ask your local CAB office if you need help or one of our advisors by calling Free phone 0800 634 8675.

See if you can move you high interest debts on to lower interest products and be sure that you know what you are signing up for when moving loans; again your local CAB office can help as can one of our advisors by calling Free phone 0800 634 8675.

Sometimes you can consolidate (merge) all of your debts with different credit cards/unsecured loans onto one cheaper secured loan to reduce your overall expenditure.

When facing repossession you have a number of options which may take too long or get you into deeper debt:-

1. Estate Agents
2. Remortgage
3. Secured Loans
4. Credit Cards

We always believe in fixing the problem and the best way to Stop Repossession is to clear the arrears. Alternatively, if you cannot do this then we can stop repossession by buying your home and clearing your debts for you.

We have a highly specialized team will always treat you with the utmost of respect and in complete confidence. We will help you with all legal matters and the process of selling your home and can provide you will a panel of solicitors to represent your interests at no cost.

We have stopped many repossessions by offering individual solutions that always help:-

This option is ideal if you want to sell your property quickly and move on. We can buy your property in days and work to a timetable that really suits you. You may even want to agree the sale (exchange) and then sell the property up to 6 months later. We will always provide a solution that works for you and will even let you sell and rent back for as long as you like. Remember unlike Estate Agents will guarantee the sale at no cost to you and provide a whole range of benefits to you.

As well as buying your property quickly, we can also offer to rent back your property to you so that you do not have to move. This is a great option if you want to stop repossession and still continue living in your home, all with an affordable rent. Take advantage of our long term tenancy option as we can rent the property back to you for as many years as you would like and we can even agree to sell back the property to you. We will guarantee the sell and rent back at no cost and also include a whole range of benefits for you.

If you decide to sell and rent back we call also agree in writing to sell the property back to you at a pre agreed price. This allows you to typically buy the property back in 3 years and know that you have lost the property.

Don’t forget all of our options - are absolutely free!

Call us now 0800 634 8675 if you want to resolve your situation and be debt free.

Or simply complete the contact details and one of our advisors will call you straight back

We can buy your property in days and rent it back to you, so you can have a fresh start

The National Repossession Helpline....Let us Help you save your Home!

1. Citizens Advice
2. The National Repossession Helpline
3. National Debt line
4. Shelter England: the housing and homelessness charity
5. Consumer Credit Counselling Service
6. Community Legal Service