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Repossession
The Repossession Process
This article outlines the process of repossession.
If the lender is going to repossess your home, there are strict rules as to how they are allowed to do it, and if you're aware of them you may get yourself some leeway.
Just 3 months to kick you out of your home. Sometimes sooner.
Here is an outline to the process for repossessing your home.
First stage of the repossession process:
Written Warning.
Once you start missing payments the lender can apply to your local county court for a possession order. Usually the lender will ask you, probably in writing that they would like you to pay back the arrears.
However, they are not legally obliged to warn you of impending court action, as your missing payments is a default of the contract.
Second stage of the repossession process:
Summons from your local county court.
If you don't respond to the written warning then the lender will apply to the local court for a repossession order.
The court will then issue you a court summons detailing details of a hearing where you can meet with a representative of the lender to offer the judge your side of the story with the lender offering theirs. It is usually a better idea to have approached the lender at an earlier stage in order to discuss the situation, though how flexible they are depends on their own repossession strategy. Contact your own lawyer for the best advice relating to your own circumstance.
The lender will have supplied court evidence of arrears if it has it. The hearing has to occur less than 28 days after the issue of the summons, and it is not usually accepted to delay this further.
Third Stage of the repossession process:
The Hearing.
The judge will hear evidence from you and from the lender or the freeholder and will make a repossessing decision based on the hearing.
The court has choices. It may adjourn the case, strike out the case or as is sometimes the case, allow you to stay in the property provided you keep to conditions such as repaying the arrears in agreed installments as well as keeping up with new repayments. Or the courts can give you time to sell the property, or it may decide that you should be evicted.
Lenders are seemingly much more likely to press for repossessing than during the last large property falls in the 1990's, having learned from the last property crash where these secondary agreements often failed, leaving the creditor with even greater liabilities.
Finally: The Eviction Order
The eviction court order
If the judge decides on repossession, a date will be set for you to leave and a court order will be issued with this information. The eviction date for repossessing your property and to hand back the keys can be no less than 14 days after the hearing. It is however, typically around five or six weeks after the hearing.
The eviction date and bailiffs
If you have not left by the eviction date, the lender must apply to the court for a bailiff's warrant. A bailiffs warrant usually takes between 14 and 28 days to be issued, but the lender may have applied for the bailiffs warrant at the hearing, meaning that they may be standing there on your eviction date. The bailiffs should write and tell you the date for repossessing your home. They then have the right to remove you, and may not let you take any of your possessions.
After repossessing the house
Once your lender has repossessed the property, it is likely that they will try to sell it immediately. This may not be at the best price, or what you may have managed to get for it. They will take what is owed from the proceeds which will include all fees incurred in the process. If there is any money left, that will be returned to you. If not, then the lender will bill you for the shortfall and may go to court again to force you to pay the arrears.
Bast*rds. Good luck!