Explaining Repossession Procedure & Process
Quick Sale Properties knows that the whole subject of repossession is full of complication and not so easy to understand to the general public who owns a property.
Here, we try to explain in general what repossession involves and its' procedures and maybe what you can do to help yourself out of the situation.
So Why Would A Lender Take Repossesion Action?
When you applied for your mortgage you and the lender (Bank or Building Society in most cases) signed a legally binding agreement/contract to outline the repayments terms and conditions.
If you for whatever reason default on your monthly mortgage repayments, the lender has the right under the contract to take repossession proceedings. You only need to be in mortgage arrears by 2 months for this to kick start when you will be contacted either by formal legal letters or phone. Although this is the case, in many cases your bank will try in some way to sort it out to prevent this going ahead. However, if the bank is not happy with any alternative arrangements available they will revert to the repossession proceedings. Possession action will be gained in the Local County Court in order to have control over the property in concern.
So as a general reason, it is down to you are not paying the bank on time or at all the money you agreed to repay. And you don't need long till you are in trouble, only 2 months to get you into this much afraid situation.
A Summary of Repossession Process And What You Can Do
Initial ActionIf you are unfortunate enough to be in arrears in your monthly mortgage payments, your lender will know very quickly and you will be contacted normally by either a formal letter warning you of the consequence of you continuing not paying your monthly mortgage or sometimes by your lender's representative giving you verbal warning. It is important that you at first instance contact your lender when you know you are in this situation in order to come up with some sort of arrangements. Some lenders might issue a formal letter plus verbal phone calls together. If you feel there really is not a way out, contact us at Quick Sale Properties. We will do all we can to help you out of the situation. This is the stage where we can do the most rather than leaving it to the last stages.
Lender's Legal Department Takes OverWith the above procedure exhausted by the lender and having no progress with your payments, the process goes a step further. The lenders legal department takes over. Your account will be handed over to their solicitor. From there you will get further letter from their solicitor giving warnings and threats of repossession and eviction at the same time demanding for payments. At this stage, normally falls within four to six months of mortgage arrears/debt, it can get even more serious and you should never avoid dealing with the matter. A lot of people choose to ignore such notices and hope the matter will disappear itself, in reality you will get nearer to get your property repossessed. You should at all instance contact the solicitor and try to come up with a suitable and manageable solution to clear your outstanding debt and commit to your future payments. Again if you really have no option remember we are here to help. By giving us a call on the free number we can go over all the options available to you.
The Start Of RepossessionMost lenders will try to prevent this from happening but if matters are not solve and arrears go beyond 6months (typically though it differs from lender to lender), the repossession proceeding starts. The lenders solicitor will in this stage forward a County Court Repossession Orders. Your County Court will arrange a hearing date for you to attend the court. At this stage it is much more complicated but we can still help by giving you a fast and quick sale of your property. Either way you should keep in touch with the solicitor and attend your hearing.
Court HearingIf you still have not made alternative arrangements, you will have to attend the hearing. When you attend your situation is presented to the court and the County Court can make several outcomes depending on the individual cases.
Possible Outcome One - Suspended Order For PossessionThis outcome involves the court deciding to suspend the possession order by you being able to make current month's payment to the lender and mutually agree to payments of the arrears in concern. Effectively you have another chance to solve this financial crisis. County Courts often, but not always, opt for this outcome as it gives both the mortgage holder and the lender a chance to come to agreeable terms. Saying so, it also gives the lender reassurance if the mortgage holder do not keep up to its financial agreement, the lender can take immediate action for possession of the property with what is know as a 'Possession Warrant'.
Possible Outcome Two - AdjournIn this outcome you will be given an alternative date to attend your hearing. Normally because you can not attend for a good reason or additional information is required to proceed with your case.
Possible Outcome Three - Adjourn IndefinitelyIn this outcome it normally involves the mortgage holder paying all his/her arrears to date and the County Court decides to Adjourn Indefinitely.
Possible Outcome Four - Order for PossessionIn this outcome the County Court decides to award an Order for Possession to the lender. There is typically around a month before this happens.
Possession Warrant & Ultimately Eviction Day & Your PropertyHopefully you will never reach this stage as it is much more difficult to deal with when it gets this far. Basically, if after all the above you still default in payments and did not fulfil your agreement in court, the lender will apply for a Possession Warrant which legally entitles the lender to take possession of your property. Normally the Possession Warrant is only used if you ignore the terms under the suspended order for possession.
If you remain in your property beyond the order of possession period, the mortgage lender will apply for an eviction formally to force you out of your property. The court in this stage will issue you with a date in which you will have no choice but to leave then or before (Remember despite it is much more messy for us to interfere, we can still help you out of this mess so contact us immediately and we will do all we can to stop this repossession and save your credit rating/history record). On the date the court have given you to leave, several people will turn up to take formal possession of your property. An officer representing your lender, a bailiff officer and an instructed locksmith will all be there to complete the repossession of the property in which case will no longer be your property but the asset of the lender from then onwards. If you resist departing from the property during the day police or private security squad will be also invited along to assist forcing you to move.
Throughout the process talked about above, Quick Sale Properties is available to help at any time to put you back on to your feet. Call us on our 0141 387 0556 or fill in our enquiry form and we will be in touch for help.
