Eviction team don't care about evicting though house has SSTC & offered 2 pay some arrears off

JohnCox25

We are pensioners that suffer from health problems and for a while have been unable to work, hence we fell into arrears with our mortgage company

We received a letter from Halifax banks eviction team dated the 3/3/2022 and was received this Tuesday 8th of March. The letter  says "we've previously been in touch to let you know our solicitors have applied for an eviction date.

We have not or have never received a letter saying this.

However Halifax bank arrears dept. did previously give us in December 2021, 90 days to put our home on the market and sell it, which we did put the house up for sale. (90 days is no where near long enough) but this only applies to one buyer which the first buyer pulled out.  

We now have a new buyer and the home is SSTC. .We've signed the contract and land registry documents and posted these back to our solicitor..

We have previously contacted Halifax bank arrears dept. to inform them that the property has Sold Subject to Contract.

This Tuesday 8/3/2022 we contacted the Eviction Team, but they didn't seem interested or helpful at all in this matter.

They requested a "sale of memorandum" from our solicitors and a completion date. Our solicitors email the Halifax banks eviction team that they couldn't give a precise date for completion, but said completion would be between 5 and 20 weeks.

We are not sure if this will satisfy the eviction team!

Once the sale is completed there is enough collateral in our home to pay the mortgage and the arrears back.to Halifax bank.

So why are they giving us such  a hard time and wanting to evict us without giving us a chance to see through the property sale?

We've even offed to pay something towards the arrears but the eviction team said they would not be able to do this!

We don't know what to do or where to turn so I thought maybe the MSE forum would suggest or help in anyway? We are desperate and Halifax bank don't seem to care what happens as long as they get their money which is understandable but they aren't giving us a chance to put this right

[Deleted User]

They cant just stop proceedings completely as this next buyer could also pull out and they would be back to square one.  Until you have exchanged contracts it can collapse at any point.

Halifax would never be granted an eviction order whilst you have a sale running though so best just keep communication open and they will keep moving it forward in the diary. 

ACG

90 days is enough time to sell a house. It almost feels like you have held on for near enough 90 days before putting it up for sale and finding a buyer, thats not what the 90 days were for. The 90 days were to put it up, find a buyer, get the process well under way if not completed (although I suppose with xmas/new year you do lose a week or 2). 

You are at the end of the whole process, this has not just been sprung up on you. The difference is now they are playing hardball because playing nice did not work.  

Keep on with the sale, it will go to court. You can show the judge you have a sale going through. However if the sale falls through that might alter things and that is why they are on your case. You could be someone who tries to play the game and just before exchange pull out of the sale to buy more time. 

I do not mean to sound like I am taking sides, but this has not just happened overnight, this will have gone on for I would say at least 6 months, if not longer. 

JohnCox25

Maybe it didn't happen overnight. You don't know the whole story. I don't need telling off. I need help. Why and how this happened is not the point. If you must know there's plenty of reasons why, the loss of two incomes for one, and being made redundant catching Covid,  mental health issues, we thinking it will get better when you're knocked down time after time Medical issues getting worse unable to go outside or see people, asthma, What's the point in telling you this???  You're probably a conservative with that attitude "Pull yourself together" "get over it man!" You don't know the half of it mate! As for hanging on to the property  do you really think we wanted this? We want to sell and go. and btw we had a a first buyer but through wasting time after  3/4weeks pulled out of the sale. So really there's many things you don't know about our situation.
So your assumption is untrue

JohnCox25

Deleted_User said:

They cant just stop proceedings completely as this next buyer could also pull out and they would be back to square one.  Until you have exchanged contracts it can collapse at any point.

Halifax would never be granted an eviction order whilst you have a sale running though so best just keep communication open and they will keep moving it forward in the diary. 

Okay Thank you for this Yes we will keep in communication. I agree the buy could pull out as this has already happened with the first buyer. Reasons not given but suspect a change of mind and this property was maybe too much to take on (Needs a lot of work) One good thing is we had many offers on the house so if the present buyers pull out we maybe able to fallback on them. Cheers for this You've cheered me up no-end

ACG

JohnCox25 said:

Maybe it didn't happen overnight. You don't know the whole story. I don't need telling off. I need help. Why and how this happened is not the point. If you must know there's plenty of reasons why, the loss of two incomes for one, and being made redundant catching Covid,  mental health issues, we thinking it will get better when you're knocked down time after time Medical issues getting worse unable to go outside or see people, asthma, What's the point in telling you this???  You're probably a conservative with that attitude "Pull yourself together" "get over it man!" You don't know the half of it mate! As for hanging on to the property  do you really think we wanted this? We want to sell and go. and btw we had a a first buyer but through wasting time after  3/4weeks pulled out of the sale. So really there's many things you don't know about our situation.
So your assumption is untrue

I am not looking to get into an argument. I do believe in just saying things as they are though. 
You say my assumptions are untrue but clearly there is some truth. I knew it did not happen overnight - but you did not mention that. Interesting that you only tell the side of the story that gets you sympathy and then as soon as someone mentions the other side you do not like it. 

I am not here to kick people whilst they are down. I believe in calling a spade a spade and finding a way forward. I notice how you missed off the point where I try to offer some help which probably speaks volumes.

Succinctly...The point of my post I suppose was that halifax have given you time. They are now going to be on your case until they get paid off because you are now out of time. Keep on with the sale of the property. If it goes to court before the sale goes through show the judge evidence of the sale, they will probably give you the time. Also just be prepared that those court costs will likely to get added to what you owe Halifax so maybe keep on to your agent and solicitor to push things through. 

ACG

Just reading back through your post, I appreciate you are going through a pretty rough patch. I will just apologise, you dont need the extra grief. 

Admiral_Barbarossa

JohnCox25 said:

Maybe it didn't happen overnight. You don't know the whole story. I don't need telling off. I need help. Why and how this happened is not the point. If you must know there's plenty of reasons why, the loss of two incomes for one, and being made redundant catching Covid,  mental health issues, we thinking it will get better when you're knocked down time after time Medical issues getting worse unable to go outside or see people, asthma, What's the point in telling you this???  You're probably a conservative with that attitude "Pull yourself together" "get over it man!" You don't know the half of it mate! As for hanging on to the property  do you really think we wanted this? We want to sell and go. and btw we had a a first buyer but through wasting time after  3/4weeks pulled out of the sale. So really there's many things you don't know about our situation.
So your assumption is untrue

Pride does not pay your bills! It never has! I’ve put this here so it helps others.

While at University a few years ago, I managed to have enough money to pay my mortgage until about three months before the end of my course. The first thing I did was contact my building society about this and kept them informed every step of the way. The hardest part was that when I finished the course, I was selected for jury service in the High Court when I got back to work. I had to explain that while was three months in agreement not to pay, I had to go another month because of this.

I continued to be in agreement, moving three month’s after the end if my course, now paying in full, and got another mortgage without a problem, although my previous band did offer a Kensington type one at extortionate rates!

When we did sell our house, the estate agent came round and told us about evicting the couple just down the road, which I had witnessed with my friend a few months earlier! He explained that they had gone one month in arrears, never contacted the same society I was with, and within three months were out on the street. I said to the estate agent that we were about three months in agreement and he fell about laughing.

I know it is not what op wants to hear, but without talking about it by the time you catches up. It is too late!

OP got good advice here. I hope they take time to put thing right.

JohnCox25

Admiral_Barbarossa said:

JohnCox25 said:

Maybe it didn't happen overnight. You don't know the whole story. I don't need telling off. I need help. Why and how this happened is not the point. If you must know there's plenty of reasons why, the loss of two incomes for one, and being made redundant catching Covid,  mental health issues, we thinking it will get better when you're knocked down time after time Medical issues getting worse unable to go outside or see people, asthma, What's the point in telling you this???  You're probably a conservative with that attitude "Pull yourself together" "get over it man!" You don't know the half of it mate! As for hanging on to the property  do you really think we wanted this? We want to sell and go. and btw we had a a first buyer but through wasting time after  3/4weeks pulled out of the sale. So really there's many things you don't know about our situation.
So your assumption is untrue

Pride does not pay your bills! It never has! I’ve put this here so it helps others.

While at University a few years ago, I managed to have enough money to pay my mortgage until about three months before the end of my course. The first thing I did was contact my building society about this and kept them informed every step of the way. The hardest part was that when I finished the course, I was selected for jury service in the High Court when I got back to work. I had to explain that while was three months in agreement not to pay, I had to go another month because of this.

I continued to be in agreement, moving three month’s after the end if my course, now paying in full, and got another mortgage without a problem, although my previous band did offer a Kensington type one at extortionate rates!

When we did sell our house, the estate agent came round and told us about evicting the couple just down the road, which I had witnessed with my friend a few months earlier! He explained that they had gone one month in arrears, never contacted the same society I was with, and within three months were out on the street. I said to the estate agent that we were about three months in agreement and he fell about laughing.

I know it is not what op wants to hear, but without talking about it by the time you catches up. It is too late!

OP got good advice here. I hope they take time to put thing right.

 "Pride does not pay your bills! It never has!" I know what this means, but I don't understand in what context this means? We are not interested in keeping the home and it's SSTC.

Update:
Any way we've contact The Halifax Eviction Team and their solicitors Ascent Law, and offered to pay them the monthly mortgage as  my wife has began receiving her state pension which was around mid January 2022 (at a lower rate than she expected), and I'm receiving my state pension (starting at  a lower rate) which began be paid to me last year around Mid Jan 2021 and now we have extra money from the attendance allowance and finally something from pension credit.
We now have the means to pay the monthly mortgage, but Halifax still want to repossess out property even though it's still going through the legal process and require the whole of the arrears to stop the eviction, even though we've sent #Halifax 
bank a memorandum of sale and they insist on a completion date even though our solicitors have informed the Halifax Eviction Team that with conditions as they are (Covid people off backlogs etc.) they can not provide a completion date, but could be 5 to 20 weeks.

We don't really know who to ask or turn to for help.

I know this is business and Halifax bank want their money I/we get this, and we thought we would sold  the property sooner or later or by now, and all the rest of it!

Yes we had our chances, Yes we know it's our fault etc (My fault) but when both of us are suffering from various health problems, and shying away not wanting or unable to talk and deal with people, wanting the world to go away. we thought the Halifax bank would at least give us time for the sale to complete.

 I read somewhere that Halifax bank says (not word for word) "it would be the last thing that the #Halifaxbank would want to do,  go to

repossess your home without exhausting all avenues. Well it's not true!

theoretica

Yes, the juggernaut that is the eviction will continue on, now that it has started.  But if they have only just told you they are applying to court for eviction it will be a while before they can get a court date - I am not sure what the court backlog time is at the moment but believe it will be months.  That delay is why they won't stop the process now it is started, but hopefully the sale will go through before the court date.  Even if it does go to court, with a sale in progress, it is very unlikely an immediate eviction would be ordered without allowing reasonable time for the sale to complete.

Thrugelmir

If the sale goes to plan then the matter will be closed. The wheels however won't stop turning until it does. People's word is far too often worth very little unfortunately. Hence the need for a structured process to catch all.