Please help!!! Rented house & Reposession!!

sarah1985x

In August 2009 my boyfriend and I moved in to my step father's house as he was going to be doing contractual work all over the world for the foreseeable future. We gave him a lump sum of £2k and he said we could stay in the property for at least a year and untill he returned to the UK. Since then he is no longer with my mother and we have not heard from him for months and have no contact details for him. About 2 weeks ago, Eversheds, a legal firm representing Santander, have been in touch to say that the mortgage hasn't been paid since December 2008 and that they have a court date for 15th March 2010 to repossess the property. This was all they could tell us. I have since called Eversheds and Santander to try to obtain further information but, as expected, they will not share any information with me whatsoever!

How can we find out what is going on? Will we be given notice that we need to leave the property or will they just turn up one day and kick us out? What if they turn up whilst we are both at work?

Also, we would be willing to buy the property and try to come to an arrangement regarding my step father's debts but Santander won't talk to me about this at all. Will the house eventually have to go to a public auction or is there a way that we will be able to negotiate a deal with Santander?

Any advice would be very much appreciated!! Thank you!!

JA1000

Buy it as a repo it will be even cheaper.

beecher2

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

gives good advice

What notice am I entitled to?
Lenders are often unaware that a property has been rented out to tenants, so it is common for legal proceedings to be started (eg for mortgage arrears) without the tenants even being aware that there is a problem.

Since April 2009, lenders are required to send a letter to the property addressed to 'the ocupiers', informing everyone who is living at the property of the date of court hearing. They have to do this within five days of the hearing date being confirmed by the court. You should therefore always open post addressed to 'the occupiers' - do not assume that it is junk mail!

After this, the only notice that you will be given is if the court agrees to give the lender possession. If this happens, the court will send a notice to the landlord and 'any other occupiers', informing them of the date that the bailiffs will be coming to repossess the property. This notice (form N54) may only give a few days' notice of an eviction, so get advice immediately if you receive one.

Get in touch with Shelter, Citizens Advice, and start looking for somewhere else to live.

dimbo61

So you have paid £2K and lived in the property for the last 8 months.
That works out at £400 a month.
This is your FIL house and the debts are his.
Can you afford to buy the place ? what kind of condition is it in ?
As a repossion you might get it very cheap IF you have a good deposit and a mortgage sorted

sarah1985x

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your responses.

We haven't had any post addressed "to the occupier" so could we assume that they haven't actually got a court date yet afterall?

Dimbo 61 - The house is very nice and in quite good condition! We do have a small lump sum, about £5k, but this would probably only amount to about 2 or 3% as a deposit for a mortgage. This is why I would like to come to an agreement with Santander/Eversheds before the house is put up for public auction. We could certainly service a mortgage for this amount we just don't have enough initial capital to put down as a deposit. Any ideas?!

dimbo61

The bank of mum and dad or other family ( rich uncle!) and see what your bank/ local building society might lend you with a 5/10% deposit.Got to be worth a try and you might get a offer of the lender or go to auction

Gorgeous_George

It almost certainly won't happen the way you would like.

They will seek to repossess the property and advertise as 'vacant possession'. You will then be able to bid for it jin just the same way as any other potential buyer. You will need a deposit + costs.

I could be wrong of course and wish you luck.

GG

VIGILANT22

sarah1985x wrote: »

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your responses.

We haven't had any post addressed "to the occupier" so could we assume that they haven't actually got a court date yet afterall?

Dimbo 61 - The house is very nice and in quite good condition! We do have a small lump sum, about £5k, but this would probably only amount to about 2 or 3% as a deposit for a mortgage. This is why I would like to come to an agreement with Santander/Eversheds before the house is put up for public auction. We could certainly service a mortgage for this amount we just don't have enough initial capital to put down as a deposit. Any ideas?!

no chance..........

jazza77

Op as I understand it Santander have a duty to your stepfather to obatin the best possible price which would prevent them from agreeing a private sale with you(ie it must be advertised with estate agents or sold at public auction). As other posters have said however if you are able to get together a deposit and arrange a mortgage you should be free to offer and may be able to get it at a good price.

Hope it works out for you - and do let us know.