Threat of court order on property

Worried_Homeowner

Hi

I wonder if anyone can help

We have a mortgage (Not sure if ok to mention lender) who are threatening the above.

Heres our story

We are self employed and after a dreadful 2009 bulit up arrears of over 11k, since Oct 09 our arrears have more than halved to £4.9k. With regular payments received every month for both subscription and arrears paid.

I have paid late due to money from my clients not arriving on time by a day (Thats honestly a day not a week or more) on 3 occasions this year.

As these are classed as failed plans we have been informed our case has passed to their litigation dept to gain a court order.

The lender will again this month get the entire monthly subscription well before the due date but the litigation dept wants the entire arrears of just under 5k as well by next week at the latest even though my other half is biting the bullet and has a job interview for a company she worked for previously who want her back next week with a healthy salary and package improving our income/expenditure with guaranteed money on a set date, somethind we havent had for a long time.

I can understand it if we were not paying anything, arrears were increasing out of control or we were on holiday 6 times a year without a care in the world we I can assure you we are not.

When it goes to court will the judge definately grant it or can we hire a solicitor to fight our corner or are we allowed to speak in court.

Any help is greatly appreciated as we are both terrified.

silvercar

Has your lender taken you to court before? Do you have a suspended possession order? This is where the lender has previously been to court and you have committed to pay off the arrears by paying a set amount in addition to your normal monthly repayments. If this has happened then the judge has more than likely granted a suspended possession order, this means the lender can go straight for possession on the grounds that you didn't keep to the agreement. It is meant to be an easier way for the lender to get possession without a full hearing. It is like saying you had your chance and didn't keep to the agreement.

If however it is the first time it has gone to court then you have more chance of persuading the judge to not repossess and agree a repayment plan. It is very important to only commit to what you can afford, for the above reasons.

Whichever is the case, you should turn up in court to state your case. Unless you feel you can't express yourself clearly, I don't see why you should hire a solicitor.

Worried_Homeowner

This is the first time we have ever had to deal with this.

Without jumping the gun should my Fiance be succesful next week and again without sounding cocky they want her, she has calculated paying £500 a month. I have informed them of this but sadly iy has fallen on deaf ears.

debt_doctor

Hi, it seems like they want the 'security' of a court order, or in other words a possession order.

You could argue with them that they have not followed the pre action protocols where they have to have exhausted every way to assist before court action. That MIGHT make them hold off a while.

If they do take action you will most certainly get your chance to object to the possession order. Considering your offer and your history of reducing the arrears, you would in likelyhood obtain a possession order suspended on terms which means you agree to pay contractual plus an amount of the arrears that would discharge them over the remaining time span of the mortgage as per the case Norgan v Cheltnam & Gloucester.

If you adhere to the terms then all will be well.

DD

Worried_Homeowner

debt_doctor wrote: »

Hi, it seems like they want the 'security' of a court order, or in other words a possession order.

You could argue with them that they have not followed the pre action protocols where they have to have exhausted every way to assist before court action. That MIGHT make them hold off a while.

If they do take action you will most certainly get your chance to object to the possession order. Considering your offer and your history of reducing the arrears, you would in likelyhood obtain a possession order suspended on terms which means you agree to pay contractual plus an amount of the arrears that would discharge them over the remaining time span of the mortgage as per the case Norgan v Cheltnam & Gloucester.

If you adhere to the terms then all will be well.

DD

Thank you.....

NeverAgain_2

I can understand you may not look forward to going to court, but you will be given the chance to put your side of the story.

The advantage is the lender has to listen to what the court says, even though they are not listening to what you are saying.

Make sure you have your case prepared, with a few documents to back it up.

By the time court comes, you will hopefully have a written job offer to your partner, or better still a payslip or two.

I agree the lender is not likely to be seeking instant possession at this stage, but they are making preparations to cover themselves should they need to take stronger action in future.

It's a bit like the American Navy, they always send a carrier and a sub or two to a trouble spot, even though they've no intention of immediately nuking anybody.

Worried_Homeowner

This is so frustrating we are pulling our hair out.

In the last 2 years we have paid nearly 7000 off the arrears and every monthly payment in a punishing recession and this is happening.