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tifo

Hi

Sorry for the long post …. advice sought.

My mortgage term ended at end of 2024 and the bank let it carry on without chasing for a year until end of last year, when their solicitors wrote that they'll issue repossession proceedings. I have some arrears too.

A court date for repossession was given for beginning of February this year and the judge gave outright repossession in 56 days until mid April. The solicitors said as the mortgage term has ended the whole amount is due and is in arrears.

During this time we were to sort something out and i tried doing this, either to extend the term or look to sell, as, due to many years of being in and out of arrears my credit score isn't the best. The bank wanted the arrears cleared (approx £6k) before they'd look at extending but I haven't been able to clear this.

The bank is aware of my physical and mental health issues and the account has been co-managed by their specialist 'vulnerability' Customer Care team for some years. But they haven't given any help apart from asking if i need to talk.

Eviction proceedings were issued at the end of May and the date was the Thursday gone. When i received the eviction notice i sought advice from Shelter and was put into Breathing Space (i didn't know about this before). As the mortgage term has ended the whole mortgage amount was put into this as arrears. This was 3 weeks ago and 2 weeks before the eviction date. I received an email from the insolvency service and was told next day they would send it to the bank's solicitors (whose email address I have) and the Court.

I asked the Court and i was told they received notification. For a week after my notification i was chasing the bank's solicitors for confirmation that they received my Breathing Space notification and they said No. I then forwarded my notification email to them several times and called them. In this week i also told the Court bailiff that i was in Breathing Space and he said the Court had made a note of it and could i also email him the notice which I did. He then said he'll put eviction on hold until the end date but needs the bank's solicitors to withdraw it.

The solicitors kept saying they didn't receive any emails for the notification, including mine (when they've been emailing me back for my previous emails and i have a secure emails login from their firm for). The bailiff also emailed them the notice from his Court email address.

I then contacted the bank's Customer Care team and emailed the notification to the address they gave. No one replied. I sent the email again and no one replied. I called Customer Care to be told that the Debt Respite team is looking at it.

So now we're a few days before the eviction and the bank's solicitors are saying they didn't receive notice of the Breathing Space and the bank came back and said they haven't too and could i email it again which I did.

On the morning of the eviction i called the bank Customer Care Team to ask if they'll withdraw the eviction as i'n in Breathing Space. The locksmith and bailiff had come, though the bailiff had said he'd prefer not to come he has to because the solicitors have sent their people. I was then told that the Despite Team had got back and couldn't see the bank's debt in the Breathing Space (even though it's the only one in it) and that they won't withdraw the eviction. I was told we should pack essential belonging and go to council housing office. We're a family of 5.

The bank said they hadn't directly received notification of Breathing Space, their debt is not in it (from the ref number i have) and in any case the mortgage balance cannot be included only arrears, even though the whole amount is now arrears.

I hadn't prepared to move out etc as i was told that i have 60 days from the Breathing Space and within this time to sort something out with the bank which I intended to do. Up until the day of the eviction i didn't know what the bank told me and it's worrying that their solicitors also didn't tell me this. It's also worrying that both the solicitors and bank kept saying they haven't received notification of the Breathing Space when they actually meant they hadn't received it directly from the insolvency service or the Court which i don't believe for the solicitors as their usual email address had been given. But the bank said THEY should have been informed. But i only dealt with their solicitors and didn't have an email address for them at the time.

The bailiff gave me benefit of doubt and extended eviction for 2 weeks which is end of next week. On the face of it then Breathing Space is active and notifications have been sent to me, the Court and the bank's solicitors.

On reading guidance for Breathing Space i note that the remedy for the bank is to ask for a review by the debt advisor at Shelter to cancel it, even if a Breathing Space is defective. My review is in 4 weeks from the date it was taken so also end of next week. After a review if it's not cancelled they can ask the Court to cancel it. But the bank has chosen to reject it.

If there were any issues with the Breathing Space i assume the debt advisor would have been notified? Up to now i've not heard from them so assume it's active.

So i have under 2 weeks to sort this out.

Thanks

sourcrates

@tifo

In your situation, it would be better to ring citizens advice now, rather than wait for a reply from stepchange on an internet forum, they do not post every day and may not see this for a while.

You are way past debt help with this now anyway, if the bank won`t accept your payment offers, you may need to understand that repossession is going to happen and must make plans accordingly.

@fatbelly

Can you help here?

tifo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82051874#Comment_82051874

Hi, i'll obviously refer back to my debt advisor at Shelter who placed me in the Breathing Space, i was asking here about the rules in this situation. Thanks

sourcrates

Rules regarding what precisely?

What the bailiff can do??

StepChange_Sylwia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82051722#Comment_82051722

Hello,

I am sorry to hear about what you have been going through.

This must be a very difficult time for you and your family and unfortunately, there is little we can help with at this point.

It does sound like there have been some communication issues along the way. Shelter (the organisation who applied for your Breathing Space) would usually liaise with the creditors during Breathing Space so you should contact their Breathing Space team. You can complain about the communication from the bank/ solicitor in the future but this is unlikely to stop the eviction now.

Unfortunately, Breathing Space does not cover mortgages, where the term of the mortgage has ended. Even though the bank/ solicitor have said the whole amount of the mortgage is now in arrears, this is treated differently than just arrears on the mortgage.

Also, Breathing Space is not designed as a payment holiday so you would be expected to continue paying priority bills (like your mortgage).

If you are not able to do this or if the bank believes their debt should not be included in the Breathing Space, they can object and ask for an early review and the Breathing Space can be cancelled before the 60 days (or even before the 30 days).

We would recommend that you use any remaining time you have on the Breathing Space to contact the mortgage lender and try to come to an arrangement with them. You can contact us for advice on this and to prepare an income and expenditure form. You can do this here: Get Free Debt Advice

You should also contact Shelter again or Citizens Advice, who may be able to offer advice on appealing the possession, if they believe there are grounds to do this.
You could also contact the court and ask if you could be given more time to vacate the property, although this is not guaranteed at this stage.

Sadly, as things have got so far and if you haven’t got a realistic chance to be able to re-mortgage or extend the term of the property, we would recommend that you look for alternative accommodation. If there are no friends or family who can help, and if you are currently unable to find a private rented property, you should contact your local council or Shelter for emergency accommodation.

Please contact us if you have any further questions.

Sylwia

tifo

Hi

Thanks for your reply StepChange_Sylwia.

"If you are not able to do this or if the bank believes their debt should not be included in the Breathing Space, they can object and ask for an early review and the Breathing Space can be cancelled before the 60 days (or even before the 30 days)"

The bank says their debt is not in the Breathing Space so it's not valid and are carrying on as if i'm not in Breathing Space. So to them i'm not in the 60 days. Like I said, they sent locksmiths for the eviction and wanted the eviction carried out last week.

In this situation where i've been put into Breathing Space but the debt is not valid according to the bank (and you say the same), is the Breathing Space active? Because i got an email with the dates and the debt advisor hasn't received anything that it's changed, we both think it's active (up to today until enquiries are made). So am i in a Breathing Space with no debt in it or would the mortgage be included but the bank isn't accepting it? The day following my application the insolvency service would have sent the emails to the Court and the bank's solicitors but do they (insolvency service practitioner) decide whether to include the debt or not? The Court said they received the email but the bank's solicitors say they didn't.

"We would recommend that you use any remaining time you have on the Breathing Space to contact the mortgage lender and try to come to an arrangement with them".

This is what I want to do but because they're not accepting the Breathing Space there is no 'remaining time'.

Can a defective Breathing Space keep running or can a defective Breathing Space be corrected? Looking at the legislation and advice from debt help organisations a Breathing Space can be updated with debt added or taken off but the dates stay the same.

The Court bailiff is really helpful and would send the warrant back for any valid reason. He knows the bank should ask for a review and advised me to ask the Court to keep the Breathing Space in place and let the bank follow the procedure of asking for a review then asking the Court if not happy. The reason I don't want to ask the Court (yet) is that this bypasses the bank having to ask for a Breathing Space review and ask for it to be cancelled. Which would put me into more trouble.

tifo

I am asking the bank to extend the mortgage term but they want the arrears cleared first. But then i'm asking them for some time to clear the arrears ….

I'm also looking at equity release as i have approx £220k equity in the property (with the current mortgage on) but this also takes time.

tifo

"Rules regarding what precisely?

What the bailiff can do??"

The rules around Breathing Space … as this one seems complicated.

If it's defective do the 60 days still apply, if the mortgage debt is in it does it still apply, if the mortgage debt is not in it can it be added but do the 60 days still apply etc.

Is the application for Breathing Space made by me to the debt advisor (who then issues it) or is it an application to the insolvency service (who can decide not to issue it)? In my case i received the email with the BSS ref number (standard breathing space) and dates so is it active from the debt advisor or did the insolvency service not process it? Do the insolvency service check the 'application' or is that what the debt advisor does?

tifo

From asking the question "can a defective breathing space application be corrected" on google, the answer is (AI generated) "Yes, a defective or inaccurate Breathing Space application can typically be corrected . If there are mistakes, missing information, or even newly discovered debts, they can be amended" and (for debt advisor) "You are required to update the electronic service whenever you discover mistakes or missing information" and it links to various gov websites such as https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/debt-respite-scheme-breathing-space-guidance/debt-respite-scheme-breathing-space-guidance-for-money-advisers and the legislation https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2020/9780348211733

tifo

and here https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-enable-firms-provide-mortgage-breathing-space the FCA say "

"Lenders will be able to offer borrowers:

• a switch to interest-only payments for 6 months
• an extension to their mortgage term to reduce their monthly payments, with the option to switch back within 6 months

Both can now be offered without an affordability check".

The first option doesn't apply to me as i'm on interest only anyway but the second option states that the lender 'will be able to offer … an extension to their mortgage term … without an affordability check' and this is what i'm asking them from before they started repossession proceedings.

Though i suspect this page is not about the Breathing Space scheme?