adjourned possession order.

forest123

Hi there, I am new to this site, but have come into a sticky situation and would very much welcome relevant advice and benefit of previous experience from other forumites.

I got into arrears on my Mortgage last Christmas, resulting in lender applying for possession court date. I managed to clear down the amount and the order didn't make court, predictably, and was, I believe, adjourned.

Unfortunately due to circumstances it has happened again...and I received solicitor letter today explaining lender wishes to again apply for a court hearing.

Now, I believe I can clear half of the arrears - even if resulting in the rest of life being much tighter as a result - and hopefully then get into a payment program to clear remaining amount over time acceptable to all.

My question is - and the worry keeping me awake at night - is will the Mortgage company then still push through the court date to try to repossess come what may with the arrears being paid off? Is that the norm or, with it being less than 3months outstanding, will they go for the payment plan and again put aside any court hearing?

Many thanks in advance for any replies...

stevemLS

In all probability now that it has got this far for the second time they will still pursue the possession order but they may agree to apply for it to be a "suspended order" - which means that they will not activate the order on condition you keep to the agreed payment schedule, which will mean paying the original sums due plus a bit towards the arrears.

Have you asked them if they will capitalise the arrears - as far as I know in general terms they will only do this once.

forest123

They will not capitalise at all, I did ask for that the previous time.

If the arrears come down under one month, I would be hoping a judge would not take the case as far as a court date. Providing a payment plan has been offered and agreed?

Do you strongly believe the mortgage company would go after the house to sell, with all that comes with such a ploy, then?

Depth_Charge

forest123 wrote: »

Hi there, I am new to this site, but have come into a sticky situation and would very much welcome relevant advice and benefit of previous experience from other forumites.

I got into arrears on my Mortgage last Christmas, resulting in lender applying for possession court date. I managed to clear down the amount and the order didn't make court, predictably, and was, I believe, adjourned.

Unfortunately due to circumstances it has happened again...and I received solicitor letter today explaining lender wishes to again apply for a court hearing.

Now, I believe I can clear half of the arrears - even if resulting in the rest of life being much tighter as a result - and hopefully then get into a payment program to clear remaining amount over time acceptable to all.

My question is - and the worry keeping me awake at night - is will the Mortgage company then still push through the court date to try to repossess come what may with the arrears being paid off? Is that the norm or, with it being less than 3months outstanding, will they go for the payment plan and again put aside any court hearing?

Many thanks in advance for any replies...

Hi

Difficult to give you accurate guidance without further information and figures.

Did you receive notice of a court hearing last time and given an actual time and date?

If it did actually get to the court stage last time did you receive notification of the outcome?

You should try contacting the lender with your proposals see if they accept and this might avoid court proceedings.

If it goes all the way to the court hearing and no agreement can be reached between you and the lender then ultimately a District Judge will decide the outcome.

It does sound like you may be struggling long term going on that you are in a similar position again so it has to be worth contacting a recognised advice agency for in depth advice, support and help at court perhaps.

You may have a number of options but immediate full advice might be best as never take chances where the home is concerned

Advice / Information on mortgage arrears / possession / below from the CAB that might help

https://nedcab.cabmoney.org.uk/mortgagearrears.asp

Like I say hard to give you anything accurate without knowing the overall picture.

Maybe put up further info up on here if you can but don't take any chances on the whole time wise

Best Wishes

DC

forest123

The lender cancelled court date once arrears went under two months...although the solicitor's letter this morning said the action was still active and as arrears had reached 4k they had been instructed to pursue another local court hearing.

The arrears will be down to 2k maximum by the end of this month and I am praying they will then accept payment plan. The solicitor's letter did come with income/expenditure forms attached and one for offer to lender of payment proposals too. Hence I was hopeful of an acceptable outcome. I just don't know if it is standard practice in current climate for a lender to push for possession to suit themselves??

Lensman_2

The lender will definitely go for possession to suit themselves if they don't think they will get paid in a timely manner.

I don't know if you have consistently built up arrears of 4k (presumably over 2 months?) and knocked them back to 2k (presumably a month or two?) but that may well be provocation enough.

Consistently in arrears by a month would ring bells for them, let alone the variability that I am imagining at the moment.

stevemLS

Unfortunately you have a chequered history as far as they are concerned.

Having a suspended possession order hanging over you is a powerful incentive to keep the account in order as far as they are concerned.

They have already paid the bulk of the legal costs in getting to where you are, so, from their point of view, finish the job!

dancingfairy

You might want to phone Shelter the housing charity for help and advice.
Also you need to address what is causing you to fall behind on your mortgage. If you have other debts then you need to make sure you are prioritising your mortgage (credit cards and unsecured personal loans come at the bottom of the pile so if you don't have enough money to go around you should miss these). Do not put the roof over your head at risk to pay credit cards or unsecured loans.
If you have debt problems then you should contact someone like National Debtline or Stepchange who will help you sort out a repayment plan. They should also be able to help you with your mortgage arrears and may be able to help you put together a sensible repayment plan to put before the judge.
If you are struggling to pay the mortgage due to a lack of income then you need to seek financial advice form a debt charity as to whether you can afford to stay in the property or whether you would be better selling up and renting (as opposed to being repossessed).
df

National_Debtline

Hi there,

Having a court order which suspends/postpones possession isn't a bad thing in my opinion. You see, a court order binds both parties - you and the lender. This means that once a court has agreed to an affordable arrangement to pay back the arrears the lender will not be able to try and move the goalposts without seeking an order via the court. The courts are not there to take sides, they should consider what is fair and reasonable for all parties although the general rule is that a court will try and keep someone in their home unless it's unrealistic to do so.

The fact that you can reduce the arrears significantly is a great thing to show the court. In addition, you'll need to them show that you can pay the regular instalment plus a little extra each month. Theoretically, you could clear the arrears over the rest of the mortgage term (this right was reinforced in the binding case of Cheltenham & Gloucester v Norgan - do consider quoting it at the hearing).

If you do go as far as another hearing it is VITAL that you take a copy of your income and outgoings. Our budget meets a recognised standard format. As does the one you'll find on the Cabmoney system that my good friend DC has posted up.

Please familiarise yourself with this mortgage arrears guide as it has every you need to know to get this sorted.

It's important to bear in mind that you're going to need to be able to sustain the mortgage as the courts are only likely to give you a finite amount of times where they'll grant a suspended order.

Very best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

fuuoldself

Lensman wrote: »

The lender will definitely go for possession to suit themselves if they don't think they will get paid in a timely manner.

The lender will look to make an application for a possession order to protect their security, not on a whim to try and prompt payments

If you can afford this mortgage and it's just a wobble, keep speaking with the lender and try and get into a payment arrangement that you can keep to.

If you can't mutually agree one, it's likely they will want to go to court, but all is not lost.

The last thing the judge want's is to kick people out of their home. Attend the hearing with a reasonable proposal to make to the county court judge (it could be one the lender has rejected already, it doesn't matter).

The lender is bound by the judges ruling as much as you are, and unlike the lender they are more likely to grant you a much more lenient arrangement that the lender might have accepted.

This will usually be tied together by a 'suspended' order. i.e. as long as you keep that arrangement and eventually repay those arrears, the lender can't do anything.

If you break it, they may start the wheels in motion again, but in my experience as long as you don't go off the radar and make sure you're presenting a reasonable argument then no court in the land will grant them a warrant for possession.