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Home Home and Family Home Preventing Repossession - Steps You Can Take To Save Your Home
Preventing Repossession - Steps You Can Take To Save Your Home PDF Print E-mail
Written by James Bailey   
Your account with your lender is "in arrears" when you have missed some mortgage payments for whatever reason. Once you are in arrears, having missed payments for a couple of months or more, your lender is likely to seek court action in order to take steps to regain ownership or "repossess" your property. If you fail to contact your lender and try to reach agreement, the lenders only option to get their money back is to take control of your property and sell it. They must do this through the courts.
by JamesBailey


Your account with your lender is "in arrears" when you have missed some mortgage payments for whatever reason. Once you are in arrears, having missed payments for a couple of months or more, your lender is likely to seek court action in order to take steps to regain ownership or "repossess" your property. If you fail to contact your lender and try to reach agreement, the lenders only option to get their money back is to take control of your property and sell it. They must do this through the courts.

Although repossession should be taken seriously, the fact that a lender is taking court action doesn't mean that its time to throw in the towel. You do have some options but the main thing is to take some action and act quickly. Options to consider include refinancing your property, selling your home or borrowing the money from friends or family to clear the arrears.

Talking to your lender is the first step you should take, before looking at other options. Your lender may be able to provide some solutions to help you resolve the situation and bring your account up to date. This may include switching your mortgage to interest only, extending the mortgage term or putting a new payment plan in place. Whether your lender can help or not, it is important to be able to show a judge you have made efforts to communicate.

If things do reach court at a possession hearing then this is an opportunity for you to explain what has happened and how you propose to clear the debt outstanding. The hearing will be at a county court. At the hearing there will be the district judge and a representative for the lender. There is no jury and no oaths and no black gowns and wigs. You will sit round a table in a private room so its not as daunting as you may think. However, it is important to address the judge and not be intimidated by the lenders representative.

The best solution at a hearing is to come up with the arrears. This clears your account and removes any need for the lender to seek possession of your property. Alternatively, if you can show that you can meet future monthly payments and pay a sum towards the arrears each month, then the judge may grant a suspended possession order. This means you can stay in your home provided you meet this commitment each month. If you decide to refinance or sell your home, the judge is only likely to grant extra time if you can show that your chosen option has been progressed and can be finalised in 28 days.

Refinancing your home may be an option worth considering. However, in a repossession situation time is of the essence and the broker may not have any control over timescales or being able to guarantee you will be able to get the refinance you need. The fact that you are in arrears will also limit the availability of finance to you and the long term cost is likely to be very high. Selling your home is a further option but again beware that you will have very little control over the timescales and it may take time for an offer to be made and for the buyer to get the finance they need to buy your property.

If you are granted extra time at court, it generally comes in the form of a suspended possession order. This enables you to keep your home provided you meet the terms of the agreement set out in the hearing e.g. a commitment to make future agreed payments. Alternatively the judge may grant you an extra 28 days with a future hearing after that time to progress whatever solution you have proposed. If however you fail to win the verdict and the lender is granted possession you will generally have 28 days before eviction.

Facing repossession is every homeowners worst nightmare. However, recognising that their are options available and that there are organisations available to help you is important. What's critical is taking some action and seeking help. Organisations such as Shelter, the Citizens Advice Bureau and the National Debtline are good starting points for advice, Make sure you are contacting these government supported agencies or charities and not some copy cat private enterprise.

About Author:

Author James Bailey has an excellent working knowledge of the repossession process and has helped numerous people save their home in the UK. Find more information, articles and obtain a full report on the repossession process at www.repossessionhelp.info

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