Urgent help needed please

Kimitatsu

Hi

Now question for all you lovely people as housing law is not my forte!

Friend of mine has an interest only mortgage from a very dodgy mortgage company who appear to be charging him through the nose but thats for another conversation.

Freind has suspended possession on his house, 3 kids under 5 (one is under 6 months), went to court last time and agree a payment plan which he has not kept to. He has paid £1900 today off arrears of £3k, with offers of another £1000 in the next two weeks.

Mortgage company has refused telling him that he has to pay £3k today or they will be in court on Thursday asking for posession at 12 the same day.

I have referred him onto Shelter as baby and wife have been ill so he has not been able to work properly (hence the arrears which include charges) and wife has post natal depression. Added to that his mum is dying so he is under a lot of stress.

Any recourse under the law to stop the posession going ahead or is it just a case of laying everything out to the judge and hoping? I wasnt sure that given the number and ages of the children if there was not something he could use in there

All help gratefully recieved :beer:

Jowo_2

Can't comment on the legal process but Shelter already has a dedicated section explaining options for those homeowners going through repossession and have a dedicated homeowner line.

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

They also have info on government schemes to avoid repossession

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

There is a section which explains what defences a person can use during a possession case and the legal process itself

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repossession/going_to_court/possible_defences


The links is for England so if the property is in Wales or Scotland, just find the correct site.

Kimitatsu

Thanks - have sent him off to Shelter, at the back of my mind though (and its only a little thought waving lol!) was the ages of the children in the reposession - do they not have to give them a minimum amount of time?

Jowo_2

The list of defences that Shelter supply on their website to thwart possession do not mention the age of children as a factor as far as I can tell and in fact their site warns of the danger of breaching the conditions of a suspended possession notice.



"If you have mortgage arrears, you may have to pay a certain amount each week as a condition of the case being adjourned. It is very important to stick to these conditions. If you don't, the judge is more likely to order you to leave when your case goes back to court."

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repossession/allowed_to_stay

"If the judge makes a suspended possession order, you can stay in your home as long as you keep to certain conditions. The conditions should be explained in the order, but if it isn't clear, get advice. In many cases, it will say that you have to pay a certain amount off your mortgage arrears each month and keep up with your ongoing mortgage payments. When you have paid off the arrears, you simply need to continue to pay your normal monthly payments when they are due.
If you don't keep to the conditions of a suspended possession order, you can be evicted very easily. For example, if you miss just one payment, your lender can apply for a bailiff's appointment straight away. There isn't normally another hearing and you may only get a few days' warning before the bailiffs arrive. If you do miss one or more payments and/or you receive a letter from the bailiff, get advice immediately. There may still be time to stop the eviction."

Fire_Fox

You might do well to repost this on the Debt-free Wannabe board, as there are plenty who understand the law surrounding repossession there. Is your friend claiming all the benefits the family is entitled to? Is he paying other bills (credit cards and loans, Sky, mobile phones) at the expense of the mortgage? Mortgage, council tax, food and energy are priority bills according to the debt charities - if there are other arrears he may need to consider a Debt Management Plan (contact CCCS or Payplan).

AMILLIONDOLLARS

If there are children involved 3 under five, and he has already paid off £1900k from £3k, I'd be very suprised if a judge would rule in the company's favour. He should take all his paperwork to the court and argue that he has stuck to the payment plan. Should the company argue that he should be paying their Courts costs, he should also argue against this for their unreasonable behaviour.

Has he received a court summon? If not, I suspect that this is their bullying tactics. A court summons must always be issued, and you are given time to respond to it, before an actual court date is issued.

Your friend should continue to pay the arrears as agreed until he is actually summoned to court.

I wish your friend all the best.

AMD

Jowo_2

I understand why the defendent should do his best to secure the property for his family and why people would believe that have young children should make a judge be more lenient.

Perhaps this will be a factor - perhaps even if possession of the property is awarded to the lender, he will get extra time to find onward accommodation.

However, the advice from Shelter relating to a suspended possession order is quite grim - that judges take a dim view of a failure of the defendent to stick to the repayment schedule from the original court case that gave him a final chance to sort things out and this thread makes it clear that he hasn't stuck to the terms.

Not only that, the advice from Shelter indicates that there is not necessarily a second court hearing where the owner can plead his case, that by failing to stick to the original terms that staved off repossession the first time, bailiffs can be appointed.

SouthCoast

Is the friend signed up with the local authority housing list?