Dear Fran, Unfortunately your solicitor is almost certainly right, because if you get into a default position, and LMC repossess, you will not have the chance to market the property for best value, and you will also get caught for LMCs legal costs for the repossession. I have to be careful because of libel laws but there have been instances historically (NOT with LMC to the best of my knowledge) where repossessed properties have been sold at silly prices, way below market value, to people known to the involved Estate Agents, just enough to pay off the secured loans, leaving the owner with nothing at all. So you are better to take the bull by the horns and sell before LMC takes it away from you. At least you will have a chance to get a fair value for the property. Good luck to you.

Hi Bookworm, Many thanks - any advice would be very welcome, from anyone. The trouble is that LMC (now owned by Southern Pacific Mortgage apparently) is a third or 4th tier lender with sharkish interest rates and absolutely lethal to deal with. It is now almost 4 weeks and no reply. All I can say to anyone who reads this, no matter how difficult things are, avoid these "secured loans" as a way out of trouble. The rates are ridiculous and they give virtually no leeway if you get into trouble.

A friend has had her house repossessed by the London Mortgage Company (LMC) over arrears totalling £1500. She was suffering from clinical depression and had not opened her mail, and was thrown out of her house along with an ill mother. She has offered to pay all arrears, legal costs and 4 months advance payments to get back into the house. The solicitors acting claim that they have forwarded the offer, but 3 weeks later, no response of any kind. There is a difficulty in that LMC is a second lender, and the first lender has an early redemption penalty of £15,000 if the mortgage is terminated early, this mortgage penalty terminating in October, at which time she was planning to sell. If LMC does not accept the offer, triggering a £15,000 loss to my friend, what rights if any does she have? Any suggestions would be gratefully welcomed, as my friend is verging on suicidal, after only recently coming out from under psychiatric help. She has tried ringing LMC directly but they refuse to talk to her, referring her back to the slocitors, who will not chase LMC for an answer!! It is very frustrating. All I can do is warn others NOT to use LMC or its new owner Southern Pacific Mortgage Ltd - they are obviously lenders of last resort and have no moral scruples at all!!