Govt Mortgage to Rent Scheme/Will it save my house?

sillygirl73

Angiepange wrote: »

It is confusing, thats for sure! I would say that until you know what your options are with the mortgage co and mortgage rescue, make a payment BUT ONLY what you can afford.

In my area we needed to be referred by the CAB as our council want to make sure that you have had debt advice first and discussed all your options with a professional. I spoke to the Housing Advisor at our CAB, but Im not sure how quickly you will get through, they are busy. Alternatively ring the Shelter homeowner line and seek their advice too. I don't think it would hurt to also ring your local council. Ask for the Mortgage Rescue Advisor or housing team if that doesn't get you anywhere. I did this and was told to ring the CAB first! but at least I knew where to start.

Good luck hun, let us know how you get on x

Thats great advice, and is pretty much what we have experienced so far. We were initially referred to a CAB housing officer by our CAB debt advisor. He then saw us, and set the balls rolling so to speak. We then saw someone at the council from the housing options dept to discuss our.......options!!:)
Then case was transferred to council MR specialist who went AWOL and so did not do anything for 3 months, by which time the criteria had got stricter and so we needed to get into mortgage arrears!!
The MR specialist at the council is now the same person as the CAB housing officer so hopefully when I speak to him this week, things will start to happen!

Good luck no pennies, really hope things work out for you

Gothicfairy

Sillygirl...I didn't find the CAB much help ( no local office had to do it over the phone or travel 35 miles) but I did think shelter really knew their stuff.

It might be worth you giving them a ring anyway, just to get a new view point

no_pennies

well i rang the council this morning and was told its a five day turn round just to get the housing team just to ring me back !!
rang cab for an appointment (left details on answerphone ) so no further forward
also i feel awful now daughter has just asked for £100 towards her hol when i said no way got no money she said i thought you were saving for my eighteenth cant i have some of that (cashed that in for xmas put some aside for eigteenth and saving in a jar ) she,s so angry with me i feel sick partly that shes a spoilt brat and partly that things are this bad i feel like crying

Angiepange

no_pennies wrote: »

well i rang the council this morning and was told its a five day turn round just to get the housing team just to ring me back !!
rang cab for an appointment (left details on answerphone ) so no further forward
also i feel awful now daughter has just asked for £100 towards her hol when i said no way got no money she said i thought you were saving for my eighteenth cant i have some of that (cashed that in for xmas put some aside for eigteenth and saving in a jar ) she,s so angry with me i feel sick partly that shes a spoilt brat and partly that things are this bad i feel like crying

Hi no pennies

First of all, don't panic. Really good you made the calls, at least your name is in the system now. Have you tried Shelter yet? Their homeowner line is great. They can tell you if they have a local branch where you can get an appointment. There is also National Debtline and CCCS who can give advice over the phone too.

Have you rung your mortgage lender? You have said you have cancelled the DD for March, can you ring them and let them know you are in difficulty? Tell them you are seeking professional advice and are waiting for call backs regarding your housing options. Does your council have a contact point where you can drop in, in person and speak to a housing advisor? Might be quicker and give you chance to pick up some info?

Try and stay positive hun, I know its so hard and so stressful, but you have got the ball rolling. Its now a case of speaking to as many people as you can and exploring all your options. You can do it.

I know where you are coming form regarding your daughter! I have 2 teenagers, my sons 18 this week (we have nothing to give him cash wise) my daughters nearly 15. They have had to go without most things since our circumstances took a radical change and its not a nice feeling as a parent, but they get used to it and to be honest, helps teach them the value of money.

You can't give her what you don't have. She might be angry at you now, but how would she react if you didn't put food on the table one day? I know its an awful feeling but you have to prioritise what money you have for bills and food. Is she working or in education?

Im sorry you are having a tough time , it will get better, but please keep in touch and vent away here if you need to.

Angie x

no_pennies

thanks for the advice angie regarding bratty daughter and mortgage ect
well i have news not good news a very nice lady called from the council
we dont qualify because our house is worth too much for the area the limit is 140 thousand i asked how could that be fair and she replied that in some areas of the vast area (half of north yorks ) that you could buy 2 houses for 140 thousand and that it was unfortunate for us that we lived in a better area and she'd had lots of enquiries from people who need help but are over the limit
angie hun i dont know how you got this done but you deserve a medal
the system stinks i wonder how many people actually qualify and i wonder how much it costs the council to rehome families who could have been helped through this scheme if only they qualified he ho rant over
looks like were selling then renting privately well at least i know were to go from here ,i cant tell you all how much i love how everyone helps eachother on here its great xxx so thanks again keep on going
off to look at threads about selling and renting now and how to keep the lender of my back untill the house sells

notfunnymoney

Whaoh, where do I start having caught up with this....

Firstly no pennies, I'm so sorry you've had that bad news, I totally agree that the value limit they set is ridiculous - the only reason we qualified is cos we're in a 2 bed maisonette - had we been in a house then forget it - we live in Surrey and the Home Counties are stupidly overpriced!!

Secondly - to Sillygirl, Gothicfairy and anyone else goin thru this.....This scheme has been set up by the Gov but really has absolutely no back up what so ever - it's like someone opening a shop with no stock and nobody on the till - it hasn't been thought thru at all and it's sick cos it messes with peoples heads - add to that the fact that it seems to have diff rules in diff boroughs and you've got a complete c0ck up of a scheme!!!

I feel like I've been holding onto what this scheme CAN offer us by the grit of my teeth for endless months on end with a lot of dips along the way.... it def helps to have as much info as poss from as many sources as poss (inc this forum!) - also do as much of your own research as you can and almost get to know every detail of the scheme as much as you can - it's only cos of the things that I'd learnt myself that allowed me to challenge what 'professionals' told me at times and fight on thru cos I've been told so many things that could've very easily put me off....

I'm just wondering whether it would be worth trying to contact someone at the HCA (Housing and Communities Agency) who are the overall governing body of the scheme - why not?! Go to the top!! Say you've spoken to Tom, !!!!!! and Harry and cannot get a straight answer as to what is happening with the funding and if it is stopping, how far into the system to you have to be to be considered still eligible for funding?! We had exactly the same scenario cos all ours was being sorted while there was the change in Gov and I was told that the new Gov could drop the funding at any time so we were constantly in fear of this until they announced a further £200m being invested at the Oct Spending Review.... but that was when NOBODY knew, I should imagine the HCA should def know something in this scenario?!

I'm waffling now - good at that!! But you get my gist, keep going and going and going, triple check every bit of info you're told, make sure YOU know more than THEM by reading up on the scheme as much as you can and referring to the toolkit that I found and that I know Angie has posted the link for somewhere on here a few times - let them know you know and that you will not back down!!!

I've now got to the stage where we're dealing with airy-fairy solicitors so now having to keep on top of them too - it was me that spotted we were missing a form they should've sent us!! We purposely drove 30mins to their offices to give all our forms back by hand and when I pointed out the missing form I filled it out there and then in the office - with both my kids running riot but I wasn't gonna leave and potentially wait another week for them to send it to me, ha!!! I know I'm still gonna have to keep my strength up for this bit too until it's all completed - HOPEFULLY!!! But if the Solicitor still believes she's gotta have our case completed by 31/03 then I'll let her believe it and who knows, 7wks this Thurs we may actually have completed - not just the transaction but also this horrible, horrible and oh-so-lengthy journey....

I wish you all good luck and sending strength vibes to you all.... keep us updated, as will I and if I can answer any more questions then I'd be more than happy!!

H x

notfunnymoney

http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/ContactUs.aspx ..... here you go, the HCA 'contact us' page on their website - reckon it's worth a call or email - and don't be too proud to sound as desperate as you can - answers are needed!!
H x

Angiepange

Hi all :wave:

I know we have been wondering over the last couple of weeks if the Mortgage Rescue Scheme is ending by March 31st.

I have had some information from a VERY reliable source. It is as follows:

'MRS in it's current format does end in March as it was only originally set up for a 2 year scheme, however, MRS 2 then takes over for another 2 years, with a third year 'mop' up period. I think the grants towards decent homes etc will be cut a little and criteria around under occupancy will tighten up but most things will remain the same'

Hope this might help anyone considering the scheme as an option if they are facing repossession.

Good websites to get further info are here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repossession/mortgage_arrears/government_mortgage_rescue_scheme

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/Mortgagesandrepossessions/DG_174005

The website below I haven't seen before but seems to contain alot of information so may be worth a read too?

http://www.mortgagerescuescheme.co.uk/

And not for the faint hearted!! This website (originally found by notfunnymoney ) contains a link to the 'Mortgage Rescue Toolkit' 126 pages to plough through :cool: but a very thorough and in-depth guide to the stages of the scheme.

http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/mortgage_rescue_guidance

Good luck everyone and keep us updated if you can

Angie

Gothicfairy

No pennies..this might or might not be any help but honestly the repossession process is not as scary as I thought.
We have been given 28 days to the court date and have been told by money advice who are based at our court that I will then get another 28 days, even after that the mortgage company have to go back to the court and apply for a warrant and that can take 2 weeks.

I know it is not great and is heart breaking but I am starting to think that getting rid of this house might be the best thing we ever did as I am not sure our marrage can manage the stress of trying to cope anymore.

sillygirl73

Well I seem to have a bit of progress! Spoke to lender friday and got through to a lovely woman who knew all about MR and understood that we needed the 15 day notice letter to start the ball rolling. She said she would have to check with her boss and would get back to me on sat am. Got the call and she has put the letter in the post:T. So once that arrives I can start hassling to get things moving. So feel a bit brighter about things at the moment x

Angie, thank you for your post about the scheme not finishing.......feel much calmer now!