Hello with a Big Bang - Urgent help needed for mortgage repossession claim!!

[marypoppins]

Hi everyone im here.
Seasonal greetings to everyone and well wishes first.

Unfortunately I’m far from well at the moment and in real state of panic!!

out of the blue I have had a mortgage repossession claim issued on the 05/12/2018.
I need urgent advice on how to defend the claim.
In particular for now I need to know about any deadlines which I have to meet to prevent any sort of default judgement being given.
like for example acknowledgement of service and filing a defence.
I have already lost 3/4 days as it is now the 08/12/2018 and can’t afford to lose any more time.

please help I’m in total confusion!!

Thanks
marypoppins

[MIKE770]

Amethyst might be able to advise on your case

[marypoppins]

Amethyst might be able to advise on your case

Thanks for that MIKE770.
Do I need to contact Amethyst or wait for her.
thanks

[MIKE770]

wait or her

[marypoppins]

wait or her

Hello Amethyst i am a complete nervous wreck at the moment. I have got no idea what I need to do to respond to this repossession claim. I need urgent advice as to wat my legal obligations are for now. Please help ASAP.

Thanks.

[des8]

Hoping Amethyst will look in soon.
Meantime do you have a court date?
Can you post up (redacted) the claim and give details of why whilst awaiting Amethyst

[marypoppins]

Hoping Amethyst will look in soon.
Meantime do you have a court date?
Can you post up (redacted) the claim and give details of why whilst awaiting Amethyst

Hi DES8,

Thanks for replying. The court date is jan 18 2019.

the claim was issued on 05/12/2018, and is for mortgage arrears.

my main concern at the moment is about missing any deadlines to avoid some default judgement. All I know is that a defence needs to be filed within 14 days.

I don’t know how to post redacted stuff, I’m new to all this.

thanks

[des8]

To upload see here https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...-and-documents
OR email admin@legalbeagles.info .making sure you reference this thread and your user name

[Amethyst]

Hiya xxx Sorry I havent been about much over the weekend or today and am just catching up. Have you sent over the claim form ?

Normally a possession claim will come with a court date and details and there are slightly different procedures to how you'd deal with a normal court claim so I think we need to see what the claim is you've received - unless you've just been reading the guides for standard ccj claims and ( understandably ) got confused.

Theres no default judgment in possession claims so don't worry about that, neither is their acknowledgment of service. It's just a defence in 14 days ( from service - so 16 days from issue date ) it's not fatal if you don't file a defence- you can defend at the hearing - however it is best to put a defence in if at all possible - it's taken into account when it comes to costs and gets your case in front of the judge in advance of the hearing.

Whats the situation with your lender ? Have you been in communication about the arrears up till now ? How much arrears are you in and can you afford to pay your basic mortgage and an additional amount on top each month to pay off the arrears over a reasonable period ?

If it is out the the blue then they will have failed to follow the preaction protocols and probably the fca rules on mortgage arrears. ( https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/MCOB/13/5.html )

CAB info here https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/de...n-of-your-home


Get an appointment with citizens advice or speak with Shelter ASAP too - they are really good and can talk through what's happened to get to this point and what your options are xxx

Ill keep an eye on email anyway

[marypoppins]

Hiya xxx Sorry I havent been about much over the weekend or today and am just catching up. Have you sent over the claim form ?

Normally a possession claim will come with a court date and details and there are slightly different procedures to how you'd deal with a normal court claim so I think we need to see what the claim is you've received - unless you've just been reading the guides for standard ccj claims and ( understandably ) got confused.

Theres no default judgment in possession claims so don't worry about that, neither is their acknowledgment of service. It's just a defence in 14 days ( from service - so 16 days from issue date ) it's not fatal if you don't file a defence- you can defend at the hearing - however it is best to put a defence in if at all possible - it's taken into account when it comes to costs and gets your case in front of the judge in advance of the hearing.

Whats the situation with your lender ? Have you been in communication about the arrears up till now ? How much arrears are you in and can you afford to pay your basic mortgage and an additional amount on top each month to pay off the arrears over a reasonable period ?

If it is out the the blue then they will have failed to follow the preaction protocols and probably the fca rules on mortgage arrears. ( https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/MCOB/13/5.html )

CAB info here https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/de...n-of-your-home


Get an appointment with citizens advice or speak with Shelter ASAP too - they are really good and can talk through what's happened to get to this point and what your options are xxx

Ill keep an eye on email anyway

Hi Amethyst,

Thank you and the lord!! What a relief I’m feeling already.
Il just get myself together now and getting cracking on putting the stuff together to post up and mail over.

Thanks million times over.

[meellis]

If you can find the time to talk to Citizens Advice then I would urge you to do it. You might feel they haven't helped because they can be a bit of hit and miss but it does send a message to the courts that you are trying to deal with things and not just ignoring the matter.

[marypoppins]

If you can find the time to talk to Citizens Advice then I would urge you to do it. You might feel they haven't helped because they can be a bit of hit and miss but it does send a message to the courts that you are trying to deal with things and not just ignoring the matter.

Hi everyone,

I’m sorry that I have not posted back but unfortunately at the same time as the claim my mother has been taken critically ill diagnosed with cancer and I’ve been busy attending there.

for this reason I’ve not at all been able to pay much attention to this matter and time is really running out for me and I need some urgent advise now.

Below is a quick summary:

Claim: An online mortgage repossession claim.
Issue date : 05/12/2018.
Hearing date: 18/01/2019.
Arrears balance: £27009.48
Contractual monthly: £938
Remaining term:25 years.

The arrears has been slowly accumulating over several years after I lost my job.

In the past i have made numerous informal arrangements to pay the monthly plus a minimal amount towards arrears.

In the lead up to the claim there was an arrangement in place.

however in September and October I received two letters in which the mortgage lender stated that becuz they had breached fca guidelines over the handling of arrears on my account they were going to refund money into the arrears account.

this led me to assume that they would recalculate my payment arrangement and I did not make any further payment in October and November.

in late November I received a letter from their solicitors stating that they isssued proceedings and I would receive a hearing date shortly.

on 05/12/2018 a claim was received.

Since the claim I have contacted the lender twice by phone to make an arrangement. On the first occasion they told me becuz no payment had been made in the last couple of months they could not accept any arrangement and would be instructing their solicitors to apply for an outright possession order in court and wer demanding £25000 payment be made before they can stop proceedings. So I then made two payments for £1000 each to the account and on Friday I spoke to the lender again by phone. This time I was told that becuz of my circumstances there was a good chance that they would be able to come to an arrangement under a suspended repossession order and would still not stop proceedings and wer still demanding £25000 before they would consider anything like that. Instead I was told to ring the solicitors to see if they are willing to come to an arrangement under a suspended repossession order. I have not made any further contact with them yet. And I have missed the deadline to file a defence.

My current status is that although I myself am unemployed my partner and me are back together again and we have enough money using my partners self employment income and tax credits to be able to pay the mortgage plus a reasonable amount towards arrears.
I also have an elder child living with me who is doing his final year at university and in the near future will be getting a job and Contributing towards the mortgage. I have made the lender aware of all this.

i have tried to contact citizens advice bureau and other advice agencies in the last couple of days but have had no luck becuz of Christmas holidays. I am very worried that I will not be able to get any further advice or help from there now until 02/01/2019 once the Christmas holidays are over

I would appreciate if someone could provide advice on the following points that I can think of for now as soon as possible.

1) Want to apply to have hearing adjourned. becuz of my mother’s illness and Christmas holidays I a man unable to seek specialist advice to deal with the matter.

2) Given my circumstances how should I try to further negotiate with lender.

3) Given the fact that I am currently unemployed and relying on partners self employment income along with tax credits to pay mortgage would the courts be willing to accept this to make any future payment arrangements.

4) How should I best try to further negotiate an out of court arrangement with lender.

5) What is defined as a “reasonable offer to pay of the arrears”. And how much would that be in my case.

6) Can I send someone on my behalf to attend court or is it compulsory that I have to attend.

7) should I send an offer for a proposal for payment arrangement to lender by email or does it have to be sent by post.

8) given my circumstance and lenders refusal so far to accept payment arrangement and the way claim was issued should I consider complaining further.


If if you could please advice me on these points for now and anything else that you think is relevant and provide guidance as to how I should move forward from here I will be ever so thankful.

Thanks.

[seanbw]

marypoppins I hope someone helps you with the legal stuff.
Let me just offer this practical advise based on experience around me.
If your house is worth say x3 or more of your arrears - If you cannot get the lender or the judge to see with your proposals, then make sure you get the judges consent that you will sell the house and pay the arrears instead of a repossession.
You need to be realistic about your future status. If you see that there is a small chance that things may not work out with your partner or that there is a potential for something to derail your plans - take the bull by the horns. Sell the house and pay the arrears back and then with balance - buy another house where you can afford it.
Reason is I have seen cases where the loan company gets a repossession order and there is equity in the house. That equity suddenly gets eaten up with interest, solicitors charges, inspection fees, boarding costs - you get the picture. There is always a way to pad the costs so that the equity becomes minuscule.
Make sure that your contingency plan includes getting control of the sales process even if it means accepting that you cannot get them to see eye to eye with you.
I really wish you good luck with everything. You've had a run of bad luck. I hope your good luck turns up now! I'm sorry I cannot help with the legal stuff. Law just confuses me.

[marypoppins]

marypoppins I hope someone helps you with the legal stuff.
Let me just offer this practical advise based on experience around me.
If your house is worth say x3 or more of your arrears - If you cannot get the lender or the judge to see with your proposals, then make sure you get the judges consent that you will sell the house and pay the arrears instead of a repossession.
You need to be realistic about your future status. If you see that there is a small chance that things may not work out with your partner or that there is a potential for something to derail your plans - take the bull by the horns. Sell the house and pay the arrears back and then with balance - buy another house where you can afford it.
Reason is I have seen cases where the loan company gets a repossession order and there is equity in the house. That equity suddenly gets eaten up with interest, solicitors charges, inspection fees, boarding costs - you get the picture. There is always a way to pad the costs so that the equity becomes minuscule.
Make sure that your contingency plan includes getting control of the sales process even if it means accepting that you cannot get them to see eye to eye with you.
I really wish you good luck with everything. You've had a run of bad luck. I hope your good luck turns up now! I'm sorry I cannot help with the legal stuff. Law just confuses me.

Thank you for the support seanbw.

[Amethyst]

You can still put a defence in to the court - it's more telling the court how you can rectify the situation than a defence - show the court that you have a reasonable plan for getting back up to date, or indeed, selling the property to repay the debt. You will need to include your IE sheet.

Arrears balance: £27009.48
Contractual monthly: £938
Remaining term:25 years.

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/...ossession.aspx
Cheltenham & Gloucester v Norgan, says that a reasonable time to pay back the arrears could be the whole lifetime of the mortgage

however if you can pay the arrears over 24 months that is likely to be more acceptable - Offering £1000 a month on top of the £938 would likely be accepted IF your Income and Expenditure supports that figure being paid - but you would have a suspended possession order while you made those payments and get things back straight - however if you agree that under a suspended possession order and something goes wrong, then you'd likely be reposessed, so it is far better to ensure payments are actually properly affordable for you long term and work out how long that would take - do a strict Income and Expenditure sheet to demonsrate to the court what you can pay each month off the arrears while still making the contractual mortgage payment.


Is your partner on the mortgage with you / owner of the house with you ? Is that something that could be considered?

You need to be realistic about your future status. If you see that there is a small chance that things may not work out with your partner or that there is a potential for something to derail your plans - take the bull by the horns. Sell the house and pay the arrears back and then with balance - buy another house where you can afford it.

1) Want to apply to have hearing adjourned. becuz of my mother’s illness and Christmas holidays I am unable to seek specialist advice to deal with the matter. Put that in your defence submissions to the court by way of explaining why the defence is late. You can still put submissions in to the court before the hearing.

2) Given my circumstances how should I try to further negotiate with lender. Speaking to the solicitors would help - they likely will want a suspended possession order regardless now but once you've worked out your figures properly you can try negotiating with them.

3) Given the fact that I am currently unemployed and relying on partners self employment income along with tax credits to pay mortgage would the courts be willing to accept this to make any future payment arrangements. Is your partner party to the mortgage? joint owner of the property?

4) How should I best try to further negotiate an out of court arrangement with lender. Speak to the solicitors on the telephone on a without prejudice basis.

5) What is defined as a “reasonable offer to pay of the arrears”. And how much would that be in my case. 24 months, but you can argue as per Cheltenham v Norgan that the arrears should be repayable over the remaining term of the mortgage. ( How long was your original mortgage term ? - 25 years seems to be a long term remaining for being in 25k of arrears )

6) Can I send someone on my behalf to attend court or is it compulsory that I have to attend. If you dont' attend you can't argue your case and won't know what has happened until afterwards - you should attend.

7) should I send an offer for a proposal for payment arrangement to lender by email or does it have to be sent by post. Post is always better but your timescales are tight now so speak to the Solicitors and see if you can come to agreement to pay the arrears and have a suspended posession order.