repossession

Bella_Smythe

hi thought I'd already posted this but seems to have disappeared? does anyone know the usual timescale for a BS to repossess if you stop making mortgage payments? our mortgage is with the Leeds?

22bear

I had my home repossessed in April 2009, I stopped paying the mortgage in Sept 2008 so about 7/8 months...that was with Scottish Widows

Bella_Smythe

thank you for that 22bear. just out of interest, was that before or after you went bankrupt and were you in negative equity too?

22bear

oh, long before..I only went bankrupt last Thursday!!

After the house was repo'ed I was notified that the resale had left a shortfall of around £10,000 but they never chased me up about it (I moved around a lot for the following couple of years plus I had told them that I'd had a major illness and was now living on benefits so maybe that's why), but I included this in my BK forms last week

Hope this helps!

SteveABC

Mine was NRAM.

BR end March 2011. Stopped paying mortgage March 2011 and moved out leaving house empty.

Took NRAM until December to start repo proceedings and it was repo'd Feb 2012, so that was 11 months after I stopped paying.

The house was eventually sold for 160k in June 2012 (mortgage was 190k), so there was a substantial shortfall.

Have never been chased for shortfall and never had any letters about it - it would have fallen into my BR.

luvchocolate

Hi Bella you posted this on another persons thread so not really lost lol. mine took 10 months was repo before I declared br, its on the market with a massive shortfall around 80k if it sells.
hope that helps, good luck

Bella_Smythe

thanks guys. both are going to have to happen, i just dont know best order to do things in. is it legal to stop paying mortgage in order to save up BR fees and sort of live rent free until they repossess you.?

22bear

Bella_Smythe wrote: »

thanks guys. both are going to have to happen, i just dont know best order to do things in. is it legal to stop paying mortgage in order to save up BR fees and sort of live rent free until they repossess you.?

Yep, totally legal! In fact it is what you would be advised to do by CAB and Stepwise and everyone else on here...any shortfall in the resale of your house would be included in your bankruptcy so don't feel bad about that!

Bella_Smythe

thanks 22 bear. its just the balancing act innit?

22bear

Bella_Smythe wrote: »

thanks 22 bear. its just the balancing act innit?

exactly! it's just how you feel about it at the time (i.e. guilty!)...I know I did, however the eventual repo went really smoothly and without any fuss whatsoever..I went to the court hearing and told them that I wasn't contesting it and was in poor health, the judge sympathised and gave me a further 2 months to vacate the property and wished me well (I was already moved out by then anyway!)...the lender's representative/solicitor was really nice about it too!

...looking back on it now, I don't give it a second thought and I can see it for what it was..just a failed transaction and the lender just going through the motions, doing what they had to do, and certainly NOT worth all the anxiety I felt at the time...so my advice is just attend to yourself and look after your own needs

dancingfairy

Normally people stop paying the mortgage and save up to go into rented. Even after you miss payments it can take a few months before the bs notice! How quickly they repossess is one of those piece of string questions. It depends whether you write to them and say yes go ahead and repossess or whether you drag it out, it depends on how busy the courts and bailiffs are, how efficient the bs are etc etc.
The actual repossession date doesn't really matter, once you are in your new home. Either they repossess and then you go bankrupt (and the shortfall goes into the bankruptcy) or you go bankrupt and they eventually repossess and the shortfall goes into your bankrutpcy. As long as you don't sign anything after bankruptcy admitting liability for the shortfall you will be fine. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING. If in doubt check on here first as otherwise if you go bankrupt and then sign a form you can then find yourself liable for the shortfall again.
Good Luck
df