How Repossession Happens

What stages there are for a home to be repossessed.

If you have failed to make payments on your mortgage then you will receive a letter from your lender letting you know you have missed payments and asking you to rectify the problem.

You must contact them to acknowledge the problem and explain what you will do about it.

If you do not respond, you will certainly receive a letter threatening to instruct solicitors to obtain a repossession order.

Top tips:

• Keep your lender informed at the earliest stage, even before you have missed a payment if you know
• Reply promptly to letters
• Make real efforts to make as much payment as you can. Something is better than nothing/little and often
• Remember that even if it's not directly your fault you are in arrears, it's probably not the lenders either so taking it out on them wont help your cause.
• Remember to document everything. If the case goes to court, the more evidence you can show that you have made every effort and attempt to meet your obligations then the more chance you have in getting a better result in court.

If you have received a court summons, then you must reply to this otherwise it will harm your case.

The Hearing will take place where a judge will listen to evidence from you and your lender. A decision is made by the judge to:

Postpone / adjourn (the hearing is postponed for a specific reason given by the Judge)

• Cancel / Strike (the repossession is stopped)
• Agreement (repossession is stopped subject to a payment schedule agreed to settle the arrears)
• Delay (The repossession is suspended for a period of time allowing you to sell the property yourself)
• Granted (The repossession order is granted, and a date set by the court by which you must vacate the premises)

If the repossession order is made and you do not leave by the set date, a bailiffs warrant can be obtained and you will be removed from the property.

When you leave the property you must bear in mind that it will be sold on and therefore no matter how tempting it might be to take out frustrations and anger on the property, any damage caused will be classed as criminal and the cost of repairs will be taken from sale proceeds. If repairs are not done then it may impact the price of the house when sold.

The house will probably initially be sold via an estate agent but may end up at auction where the value will be substantially less than that realised on the open market. Because of this, you need the property to be in the best condition you can.

• Make sure it is thoroughly clean inside and out
• Remove all rubbish
• Ensure you have emptied all rooms, loft space, sheds, garages and other outbuildings
• Ensure you leave the garden tidy
• Take photographs of the condition of the property when you leave it, with a date stamp from your camera or some other way to provide witness to the condition at that time.