Repossession: A Practical Guide

phoebe1989seb

davidmcn wrote: »

In my experience, the vast majority are sold via estate agents in the usual way. Only the ones which would be more difficult to shift for some reason tend to go to auction.

This ^

We purchased our 400 year old cottage after it had been repossessed. The estate agent had been marketing it for four months when we viewed it (there were two other buyers before us who pulled out because of the cost to install a borehole at the property), although how much longer before the lender in possession would have gone to auction I don't know......

We actually felt bad about buying a repossession - especially as a few years back it could so easily have been us in that position - but decided that someone had to buy it and better us who loved the place and wanted to make it our home, than some greedy property developer looking for a quick profit.

I hope it all works out for your brother, OP.

Norman1982

Many thanks Phoebe it’s much appreciated!

SuperMoose

Have a read of this from Shelter. It should answer some of your questions.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repossession

That is for England. If the property isn't in England.
Then this for Scotland:
https://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/repossession_of_your_home

And Wales:
https://sheltercymru.org.uk/get-advice/mortgage-repossession/

Norman1982

Thanks Supermoose

[Deleted User]

Usually the lender will instruct a company to sell it for them. They will very rarely instruct the actual estate agents themselves.
This company will request prices from multiple estate agents local to the property and 1 or more of them will be asked to market at the same price.
Any offers are put forward to the company who pass to the person dealing with it at the lender. Its not uncommmon for it to take a long time to find out if the offer is accepted as so many people are involved.

Once the offer is accepted the price being paid is published in the marketing materials (you will sometimes see this on rightmove, 'we are in receipt of an offer....'). Usually there is 28 days to progress towards exchange of contracts, in theory during this time the property is still marketted and offers invited as the lender has an obligation to get the best offer.

The 'Best' offer isnt always the highest offer as it might be the one that has the best chance of putting money against the debt sooner than others. So a higher offer doesnt always knock out a previous one.


I bought a repo a few years back and it was mega stressful with someone putting ahigher offer 2 days before we exchanged. The people working on behalf of lender rejected it as i was so close to giving them money.

So few important points:

1. Estate agent is purely for marketing. They have even less influence on a repo sale than they do in a normal one. They have zero chance to flog it under the table to a mate
2. All offers will be vetted and confirmed
3. The highest offer may not be accepted if it will be slower to get the money.

Norman1982

Thanks Deleted_User that’s really really useful.

Thanks

Clive_Woody

Bit more info here from Stepchange, but it sounds like you are further down the line. They may be able to offer advice on what happens next.

https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/debt-collection/house-repossession.aspx

Norman1982

Thanks Clive it’s much appreciated - I’ll contact them in Monday

DCFC79

Norman why did your brother not ask the lender about collecting his belongings ?

enthusiasticsaver

I would suggest your brother contacts the lender re collecting belongings asap if not already too late. The property will be emptied ready for viewings so if it was repossessed 6 weeks ago it may already be too late. Why has he left it so long? Also he will have received paperwork telling him what will happen re the property, whether he is liable for shortfall on debt and ideas on timescale.

As others have said there will have been many months of correspondence as well as court dates if it has got to this point. In what way is your brother vulnerable? Was he communicating with the lender?

I am afraid at this stage it is a little too late to salvage much from this. Just try and help him move forward. Has he managed to get emergency/temporary accommodation from the local council? Is he working?