Tennant - Received notice of possible Repossession of property - options ??

Xtreme

Hi All

I am a tenant in a current property, and was very surprised to receive a solicitors letter on Saturday advising that my Landlord is in arrears with the Mortgage and that he needs to go to court in December to resolve the issue.

as we are currently looking to buy a property it is not a huge train smash for us , but i was wondering

is there any mileage in approaching the Lender directly to possibly try purchase the house if things go down the re-possession road or is this pointless as it wil l go the official re-possession route regardless.

Also looking at a worst case scenario: from the court date how soon could the house actually be re-possessed by the lender? what is the timescales ?


Many thanks for you help
Ian

silvercar

I am a tenant in a current property, and was very surprised to receive a solicitors letter on Saturday advising that my Landlord is in arrears with the Mortgage and that he needs to go to court in December to resolve the issue.

depends on a number of factors; how much arrears the landlord has, if the landlord actually goes to court and/ or comes to an arrangement to pay off the arrears with the lender etc.


If the lender has agreed to your presence ie the landlord had a BTL mortgage or received content to lease, the lender should repossess the property with you intact as a tenant. The property would then either be sold with tenant or the lender may evict at the earliest legal possible time. So if your AST is now periodic you could receive 2 months notice (to end on a rent day) or if the fixed term is nearing the end you could be expected to leave at the end of this fixed term.

If the landlord was letting on a residential mortgage, thelender has no obligations to you and you will be evicted at the point the lender repossesses. Any legal claim for loss of the property under the AST will be for you to take up with the landlord; though if he has no money and no assets this may be a waste of time and money.

You may be able to arrange with the landlord to buy off him before repossession. Once repossessed the lender has an obligation to obtain the best price. The lender may be interested in talking to you as this will result in a quicker sale, saving the landlord a build up of arrears.

I would try and contact the landlord, see if he intends to fight the repossession, negotiate with his lender and defend the repossession. Make him an offer to buy - he could use this as a defence in court, "please Mr Judge, I have a buyer able to proceed quickly and intend selling the property within a few weeks and repaying the mortgage." A judge should be sympathetic to this. All depends whether the landlord will remove his head from under the sand and deal with his problems.

Xtreme

Hi Silvercar , thanks so much for the help

i have spoken to the Landlord this morning and will call him again just get more details from him , but it sounded like he was financially incappable of paying the mortage , so i will try and speak to him and see what his thoughs are

Worst case scenario though after the court date if it all goes wrong how long do we have before bailifs might arrive ??

silvercar

worst case would be if the landlord didn't have consent to lease or a BTL mortgage and didn't appear in court to defend himself. Then it could be as little as 14 days!

If you were in the process of buying the property, you could go along to court. May be worthwhile to contact the lenders if you get no joy from the landlord. At least let them know the place is tenanted.

kissingthepink

This is a very strange situation. Why is the landlord's lender writing to the tenant about the landlord's financial situation? Surely this is a breach of the data protection act?

Generali

kissingthepink wrote: »

This is a very strange situation. Why is the landlord's lender writing to the tenant about the landlord's financial situation? Surely this is a breach of the data protection act?

Probably because the LL hasn't told the mortgage firm (s)he's letting the place so the solicitors think they're writing to the LL's home.

kissingthepink

Generali wrote: »

Probably because the LL hasn't told the mortgage firm (s)he's letting the place so the solicitors think they're writing to the LL's home.

Yes, but why address the letter to the tenant? Surely this could be causing uneccesary stress for the tenant. The lender would be better off approaching their client to recover any arrear amounts.

RabbitMad

kissingthepink wrote: »

This is a very strange situation. Why is the landlord's lender writing to the tenant about the landlord's financial situation? Surely this is a breach of the data protection act?

Or the Landlord has told them he's letting the place, in which case they are forewarning the tenant that they might be evicted shortly. Seems fairly standard stuff and not a breach of the dpa.

Other than that silvercars advice is spot on.

Zebedee69

Wooo thats a thought?.....

I hope you didnt open a letter addressed to LL.....

Xtreme

The Letter was addressed to the Current Occupier , but it was details all about the Court date booking etc

silvercar

It suggests (but not definite) that they know there is a tenant. So with a bit of luck they would repossess with you as the tenant and you would recieve a letter telling you to pay future rent to the lender in possession. I would expect them to evict you as soon as legally allowed ie as soon as the AST ends or, if already periodic, with 2 months notice to end on a rent day.

This is because the property would fetch more vacant and they have a duty to obtain best price for the property.

Phone the lender and introduce yourself.