Divorce Settlement

NAR

A friend of mine's house is being sold to allow the financial settlement of the divorce. The sale has dragged for a year but is very close to contract signing - possibly at the end of the month. It transpires her husband has not paid the mortgage for the last 7 or 8 months and the building society put the case in the hands of their solicitors, some 3 months ago, to start reposession proceedings..
The solicitors have been told sale of the property is nearly complete, but they say the court case for a 28 day reposession order will take place next week, unless the contracts are signed beforehand. I find this very harsh because apparently the solicitors have had this information from the conveyancing solicitors and the estate agents. The building society refused to get into dialogue on the matter.
What my friend needs to know is what does this 28 day reposession order actually mean? If the sale is completed within 28 days of the reposession court case will reposession proceedings cease?

roger56

This looks quite involved. Your friend has solicitors, the best advice is for your friend to ask their solicitors directly.

However just a suggestion, can your friend cover the mortgage payments temporarily?
If they can, propose it but only through solicitors. It can be taken into account in the divorce settlement.

If there children involved and the house is the only home then that may enable a stay on the reposession order.

Do everything at this stage via the solicitors unless you understand the legal implications.

NAR

Roger56, thanks for replying. Divorce settlement has been agreed; her ex defaulted on paying the mortgage which was stipulated in the financial settlement.

As case is next week, does anyone know the answers to my questions in the last para, ie
"What my friend needs to know is what does this 28 day reposession order actually mean? If the sale is completed within 28 days of the reposession court case will reposession proceedings cease?"

roger56

Try this:

http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/identify_problem/property_repossesion2.htm

Bossyboots

In my experience, they will get the 28 day repossession order to cover themselves against the house sale not going through. Sadly, they will have heard it all before and doubtless been caught out a good few times.

In reality, once they have the order they should postpone it for a period of grace to allow the house to complete rather than enforce it. After all, most of the work is now done, there would be no point in them starting again. However, that is just general from my experience and they should ask them to defer enforcement and see what response they get.

NAR

Bossyboots, are you saying that if the sale goes through within the 28 days the repossession order will not be acted on?

I have advised my friend to tell her ex to get in touch with the building society solicitors to ask for a postponement, as the property is nearly sold. As you say they probably have heard this sort of thing before.

Bossyboots

NAR wrote:

Bossyboots, are you saying that if the sale goes through within the 28 days the repossession order will not be acted on?

I have advised my friend to tell her ex to get in touch with the building society solicitors to ask for a postponement, as the property is nearly sold. As you say they probably have heard this sort of thing before.

There is no benefit to repossessing a house that is virtually sold and in my experience a short period of grace is given for that to happen when things are advanced. However, any hitch in the sale will result in the possession order being acted upon even though it still ends up being sold to the buyer currently involved. It is an individual matter for the lender involved and needs to be discussed with them as an option. It is also possible, if they apply to the Court, for the Judge to make an order granting repossession but also ordering that it be stayed for a set period for the house to be sold. A letter from the conveyancing solicitor in this instance would assist.

NAR

Thanks, I'll pass the info on.