Court Repossession Claim filed - Can I do sell myself?

cem

After my husband's death 2 years back, I have struggled with the mortgage and now it has come to a stage where I am unable to pay and have accepted that the property is too big for me and I just cannot afford it. With this in mind...

Claim form for possession of property have filed against me from Bank of Scotland and I have a hearing in a few week's time. I want to sell the house myself as I am sure I can save more money in fees etc in comparison to the bank bank repossessing it.

I have received the paperwork with the login information to the possessionclaim.gov.uk website however I am not sure how would I stop the repossession claim and ask court to give me time to sell it myself.

Also there is no solicitor for me on the paperwork. Would one be provided for me as I am on benefits at the moment.

silvercar

Sorry for your loss.

Is there any equity in the property? If not, you may as well walk away from it all. Stop paying the mortgage, save up some rent deposit and find a new home.

If there is equity then you need to move quite quickly. You need to defend the possession order in court and ask the judge to suspend it. Put the house on the market quickly, show evidence of this to the judge. Also contact the lender's assisted sales department - they may offer some help in selling it.

AlexMac

Sympathies.
Try http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repossession?gclid=CPSU17nQm70CFSn4wgod2xwAiQ and its related links including

http://legal-aid-checker.justice.gov.uk/

although this may not address your preferred course of action (deferrral, rather than prevention of a sale)

Maybe also look for a local law centre
http://www.lawcentres.org.uk/i-am-looking-for-advice

Best wishes; hopefully more people will reply constructively here- with advice rather than opinion or criticism.

agrinnall

Can you confirm whether you are in England/Wales or Scotland? A BoS motgage suggests it may be Scotland, in which case links to English law/regulations may be of little help.

G_M

Assume you inherited and now own?

If you can sell (Exchange I imagine) before court date, fine. If not and the possession is granted, the property will not be yours to sell.

Best plan is to discuss with BOS. They may give you more time to sell, but only if they are confidant you will do so, obtain a decent price, and pay off your loan (or a substantial part of it). Remember they will be thinking that every month that passess the arears/debt increases, so the quicker they repossess and sell, the quicker they get (some of) their cash.

TBagpuss

A court can suspend a possession order if they are satisfied that there is a reasonable prospect of you paying back the debt within a reasonable time. If you put the property on the market now, so you can show the court evidence that the property is being actively marketed, then you may be able to get any order suspended BUT a many of the costs will already have been incurred - it would also be in your interests to contact the mortgage company directly, talk to them to see whether they are willing to put things on hold while you market the property.

However, if they have got as far as issuing proceedings they may be unwilling to delay now, as they may feel that you have already had opportunities to try to resolve this with them. Are they aware of your bereavement? It doesn't make a difference legally but it's possible they may be a little more sympathetic.

Some courts have volunteer advisors on hand to provide help and advice in repossession cases, and it is worth checking whether the court you are in does - if not, speak to Shelter, or to your local CAB for help in responding to the bank.

it is vitally important that you actually go to court on the relevant day

cem

Thank you so much for all the kind replies.

There is large equity in the property thus me wanting to sell it myself to try avoid further penalties etc.

I am in England

I will speak to my bank about selling it myself and try convince them to take it back from the solicitor – might just work.

I don’t think the court it has been scheduled at has any legal advisors so is there a way I could get legal aid beforehand or perhaps through the legal aid, get a solicitor to attend court with me?

Also if I am defeated on the day, will the bank eventually hand me the remainder of the equity after all they have taken all their fees, mortgage, penalties etc?

silvercar

Also if I am defeated on the day, will the bank eventually hand me the remainder of the equity after all they have taken all their fees, mortgage, penalties etc?

Yes they do. Though the charges for repossessing and handling the subsequent sale may be hefty. Also, a repossession oftens fetches less than an identical property being sold by the owner would.

TBagpuss

Unfortunately Legal Aid has pretty much disappeared these days, so you're not likely to get help that way. Is there a University in your town or nearby? Some university Law departments have Legal Clinics or Law Centres which may allow you to access free or low cost advice - the advisors will be students.

Yes, if the repossession goes ahead then the lender is required to try to achieve a reasonable price, they then take their money, inclduing any legal costs and charges or arrears etc, and the costs of the sale, and any balance is paid to you. If you have any other debts secured against the property those would be paid out of the sale proceeds too, after the mortgage company take their share and before anything is paid to you.

Hanky_Panky

The main issue for the OP here is the decision, rather late in the day, to try and sell.

Yes the court can suspend the repossession however they won't do it on the basis that the property is going to be sold, there will have to be an offer of regular payments which at least meet the normal monthly repayment plus an amount towards the arrears (albeit only a tiny amount).

I lost count of the number of times I heard people say they would sell their house themselves just before we were about to go to court when we had been suggesting just that for months. In addition the bank won't be in a position to establish if the price is reasonable or that the vendors are cooperating with the EA to sell - all good 'stalling' techniques.

OP - I would certainly advocate talking to the lender to see if they will give you time to sell and avoid court - no harm in trying and at least talking to them. Failing that I would seriously think about voluntarily handing the keys back to save yourself the additional costs if you are trying to protect equity.