Awaiting Repossession- advice badly needed please

Frank2013

Hi

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Our household income fell by 70% about 2 years ago. Since then we have struggled to meet our mortgage repayments of £1020 per month. We have arrears of around £14k and the Halifax decided to apply for a court hearing back in May. We haven't heard anything since then. We've made no payments either as we came to the conclusion that we were fighting a losing battle and would be better getting some money together for a rental. Prices where we live in Northern Ireland are £550/£600 a month for something decent - we can afford this, plus a one off deposit.

I have a few questions....

Are the Halifax obliged to tell us the court date for the repossession or can they just proceed without telling us?
When the order is granted, how much time will we be given to get out? Is there any room for negotiation in this?

Renting....obviously our credit score is bad...will this prevent us renting through an estate agent? Is private rental our only option?
Should we get a rental ASAP before any repossession order?

There is about £50k negative equity on the house. Will the Halifax come after us for this and force us into bankruptcy?

My wife and myself are just scared that we'll be given a couple of days to get out, this would effectively leave us homeless.

Many thanks for any help.

desperate_times

Yes they are obliged to tell you the court date and you are allowed to go to present your case. There is still time to avoid repossession but you need some proper advice quickly. Have you tried to make an arrangement with Halifax? My understanding is that as long as arrears are above three months Halifax will go to court and will not make an arrangement. However, at court you may be able to make an arrangement. Going forward can you pay your full £1020 mortgage payment?

If repossessed yes you are liable for the shortfall. If at all possible you should try to sell yourself. You will get a much better price than Halifax selling. If you haven't had a court date yet then get your house on the market right away at a sensible price. Also if on the market and you tell Halifax they may well postpone proceedings and give you time to sell especially if you can get a quick offer. There is a thing called the Pre-Action Protocol which is meant to give you time to sell if you are making an active effort to sell.

Stewpot1776

Good luck mate, sounds like a horrible time for you guys.

silvercar

Selling yourself isn't going to work, unless you can get round the negative equity problem. Either by finding the money elsewhere or by getting the lender to agree to transfer the negative equity to an unsecured loan.

Frank2013

Thanks all.

I don't think we'll try to sell ourselves. At the end of the day it may reduce the negative equity by a few thousand but it doesn't matter if we owe the Halifax £50k or £25k, we have neither and will most likely have to go bankrupt.

As long as we can get some time to arrange a roof over our heads that's the main thing.