I think I pretty much fulfill the 'expert repossession knowledge' criteria. Or at least, I hope I do, since I not only do it for a living, but train others to do it too. If I fail that criteria, then the thousands of cases we have dealt with in our scheme have been mere figments of our imagination.

If you think you can genuinely afford the payments, and can prove that, then I suggest you contact your local authority and ask about their mortgage protection fund. It is public money that the local authority can use to help people clear or reduce their arrears IF they will not get into trouble with payment again in the future. Your arrears are relatively low, so the LA may decide it is cheaper to pay the arrears for you than to get an application to rehouse you and your four kids. Contact them and see what they say - if they agree to give (or lend at a low rate of interest or no interest) the money, then they can put that in writing and you will be able to make a stay application to the court on form N244 to stay any eviction once the warrant is executed on the PO you received today.

The claim for the rent arrears will only be separate from the claim for possession if the LL chooses to use accelerated proceedings for the s21 - which could see him in court two to three weeks after the end date on the s21. If the LL chooses to use the usual proceedings for the s21, he can also claim for the rent arrears at the same time. A money judgment given at the same time as the s21 notice will be indicated on the judgment and a local authority will see such (depending on the amount of arrears) as intentional homelessness.

No, that's not a fact. If the landlord who gave you the tenancy agreement is resident, even if he is not the owner of the property, then the deposit does not need to be protected. The detail of the tenancy agreement would need to be seen - as well as establishing whether the person who rented the room to you was in fact a tenant himself, and merely giving you a licence (as opposed to an AST) to reside in the property. If that is the case, then the deposit does not have to be protected. That aside, you can still ask for your deposit back. Unless there was an inventory indicating that the carpet was undamaged when you moved in, and they can prove that you were the one who damaged it, then they'd have a hard time getting a court to allow them to keep the deposit in full (you can make a claim for the return of the deposit in court yourself and put them to proof defending your claim).

If Margaret doesn't want to sell at the loss she is suffering, she doesn't need to. There are other options available to her as she appears to have substantial equity in the property and is now in a position to at least pay the CMI, meaning the arrears won't increase. But she seems determined to move now - and that is her prerogative as at her stage of life she should be enjoying herself, not worrying about a sub-prime mortgagee. I don't think MRS is complicated - I think that the people who are supposed to know about it haven't bothered to read their paperwork - or pay attention at their training, and therefore are unable to provide information to those who need it most. One way or another the concept itself is very simple and an initial application should be made, if for no other reason than to stall a repossession (even if the application fails, it may have given the mortgagor an extra six months in which to find a buyer by themselves). Unfortunately the process will never move more quickly than it does - it's called bureaucracy and that red-tape takes a while to wend its way...

OP, this post isn't to assist you as you appear to have decided that moving is your best option - the following is for anyone reading this thread and wanting to know how MRS actually works. MRS is a last resort option - it is not available to those with minimal arrears or substantial equity in their properties (there are caps on the amount of money most local authorities/housing associations can spend on buying the property). Possession proceedings have to be underway, and the mortgagor must be in a position whereby they cannot afford the mortgage and something towards the arrears. As part of an MRS application, the local authority will arrange for a financial consultation/assessment - usually with the Citizens Advice Bureau - to assess income and expenditure in order to ascertain where any cuts could be made in order to be able to afford the mortgage and clear the arrears. Only if this assessment is failed, is an application for MRS progressed to the next stage. It is an incredibly long process - often taking nine months to a year, during which time the court will simply keep adjourning the possession proceedings (possession is supposed to be a last resort). The MRS process works for some people (there are strict criteria to be met in order to be considered), but it hasn't worked for as many as the government hoped it would. Most mortgagees will readily accept that a successful application to MRS will be beneficial to them and will assist with their part of the assessment/application (including GE Money!), however there is no accounting for the uninformed people who often answer the phone and stick to the script that they have been given to respond to mortgagor's requests for advice or help. If anyone else is in this position, they should contact the local authority, and their local CAB office (or a law centre), or pop along to their local county court that deals with possessions and speak to the Duty Advice team, and find out what precisely they need to do in order to be considered for MRS (most duty schemes should know about MRS and be able to direct you to the right people to speak to at the local authority). As it is an issue involving possession of someone's home, there might be legal aid available to instruct a solicitor (obviously depending on household income) - so don't be afraid to approach a solicitor if need be to get some initial/ongoing advice.

I see what they are doing - and it makes sense, however, the court won't accept the information in that format. For court they will have to show a) the outstanding mortgage amount, b) the number of missed payments and c) a separate amount for any charges. Each of those categories should have a separate indication of the interest accruing against them. It is perfectly legitimate for them to charge interest on an increased mortgage amount - e.g. the missing payments (it'll almost certainly refer to this in your terms and condition). You will need to deal with the charges separately (i.e. claim them back), but you can put the mortgagee to proof of the alleged arrears in court by including in your N244 statement that you dispute the amount of the arrears due to the increased mortgage amount following addition of the arrears. Tell the court in the statement exactly how many payments you have missed, how much you borrowed in the first place, and how much this amount has increased. If it's an interest only mortgage, the outstanding amount should not change year to year.

If the arrears have been capitalised then there are no arrears. I am afraid you are not making any sense. Either there are arrears of missed monthly payments, or the arrears have been capitalised, in which case you would not have been making a payment towards 'arrears'. I think you are getting muddled with what has actually happened. How much were your arrears when the SPO was granted? What date do you think the arrears were capitalised? They do not add arrears 'as they accumulate' - it is done as a lump sum and you are asked if you agree to it - and would receive a letter about it from the mortgagee informing you that it would increase your monthly payments but that you would no longer be in arrears. Are you certain that your outstanding mortgage has increased? Mortgagees usually have three lines of figures for mortgages in default - the running total, the charges total and the arrears total...these are not generally added together for court purposes as the court needs to see what are actual missed monthly payments.

Your sentences above contradict each other. OP's tenancy agreement is relevant precisely because it is necessary to find out whether he/she was allowed to take a lodger/sub-let. So knowing what is in OP's tenancy agreement is fundamental. That aside, to be a tenant, one has to have exclusive use of a property, this lodger did not, ergo there was no AST, it was, at best, a licence. The above also makes no sense as a) OP did not state she moved out and b) she in fact states quite clearly in post #19 that she lives in the property - therefore at no time did the LODGER have sole occupancy rendering her a 'tenant'. You appear to have been misled by the OP's use of the words 'sub-let' - it's not a sub-let at all. The court information has been dealt with - there is no claim based on the facts given in this thread.

If they have executed a warrant due to you failing to keep to a court order, the payments that you have missed since the court order was granted are the payments you need to make in order to bring the order back up to date. So, if the SPO was granted in September 2012, and you made four payments since then, five would have been missed (just an example) - those five payments would need to be paid, along with the amount agreed towards the arrears. However, you state that the arrears were capitalised. Was this before the SPO was granted or after? If after, how long after? 1. When was the SPO granted? 2. When were the arrears capitalised? 3. How many payments have you actually missed either since the SPO was granted or since the arrears were capitalised?

Doesn't need a stamp - but if you're worried, do as Ell suggested and call the bailiffs office at the county court in the morning - they will happily tell you if the warrant has been cancelled or not. There is nothing untoward about them applying for a warrant whilst entertaining offers from you and requesting an income and expenditure form. An eviction notice doesn't have to be put in your hand.

Your lodger has no claim against your LL - your LL wasn't even aware they were there, so they are barking up the wrong tree with that one. Her 'lawyer friend' is also not correct - IF you had to protect the deposit (and you don't as you live in the property too), then she would have a claim of the return of the deposit plus a request to the court of 1 to 3 times the amount of the deposit in a penalty payment. But, she's got no chance of that, 1) because she was a lodger and 2) because she probably doesn't have the £1k of fees in order to make the claim in the first place (it's not a small claims court issue). Write back to her, tell her you plan to deduct X from the deposit in unpaid rent and will return the rest to her forthwith. Then deduct the amount and return the rest. If she wants to dispute anything she'll have to go to court. In the interim have a quiet word with your LL and ask him/her if they would object to you taking a lodger in.

Here's the link Caro: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?394844-Im-in-big-trouble&p=4266786#post4266786

OP said in his other thread that the flat that was repossessed was one he had purchased with an ex girlfriend who ran off overseas. It could well be a BTL, but the information given implied residential.

That's not the crux at all. It all depends on whether OP's tenancy agreement prohibits or allows sub-letting with or without LL's permission - and even if it prohibits it, without LL making a fuss (as per my comment earlier), then there's not going to be an issue. Even if LL makes a fuss - the breach is between the LL and OP, not the LL and OP's lodger. OP doesn't have to feel held over a barrel by the ex lodger - he/she can deduct reasonable notice from deposit and return remainder (if there is any).

County Courts that deal with possession proceedings often have duty advisers to assist those facing possession proceedings. I know, I run such a service. Not all courts have them. OP my advice stands - check with your court whether they have a service and if they do, turn up with your paperwork.

If you have another property in your name, the mortgagee is likely to ask for a charge to be put on that for any outstanding shortfall, not ask for an attachment of earnings. It is not possible to repossess a property without a court order, but they don't need you to sign anything, they merely need the court to grant a possession order and they execute the warrant on it. I cannot imagine that you received no court paperwork at all yet the property was repossessed. Totally illogical.

Your letter is fine. It sets out what you are asking for - hopefully they will respond, but frankly, given the additional information you have included in the letter about having failed to make payment previously, it is less likely that they will agree. No harm in sending it though. If you don't get a reply, find out whether there are any duty advisers at your local court and try to get there early on the date of the hearing so that you can speak to one of them. Take all your paperwork in - the notice and the claim form/particulars of claim, as they may be able to find a technical defect which might buy you a bit more time if the LL isn't willing to negotiate.

When you say you 'sublet' do you actually mean you took a lodger? If you took a lodger then you are not obliged to protect the deposit. If you actually sublet the property (i.e. you rented out the entire property and moved out yourself giving the subletter sole occupancy), then you would be obliged to protect the deposit. From my reading of your posts it seems you took a lodger - and wrote up an agreement between you and them, which they clearly agreed to. Whether your LL agreed to it or not is immaterial until the point at which they make a fuss about it. No fuss means no problem. A court is not likely to find in favour of your lodger in relation to non-protection of the deposit as it is not a legal requirement - but they may expect some of the deposit to be returned, once reasonable deductions are made for non-payment of a reasonable notice period. Reasonable notice would normally be the rental period - so if they paid you monthly, one month's notice, and if weekly, then one week.

In the other thread you state that you own another house that you live in - is it yours, is there a mortgage, is someone sharing it with you and are they on the mortgage?

The judge has absolutely no power to suspend a mandatory ground if it is made out - he/she MUST make a possession order. Your only chance, if you cannot reduce the arrears below two months by the date of the court hearing, is to negotiate with your LL and try to come to an agreement. If he/she agrees, then perhaps they can proceed in court on grounds 10 and 11 (if they have used these - your s8 notice will tell you if they have), and ask for a suspended possession order instead of an outright one. If that does occur, then if you miss even one payment of the agreement by even a penny, the LL can proceed as if they have an outright possession order and ask the court for a warrant of execution which will lead to you being served a notice of eviction from the bailiffs. As I said, the only option you have (if the s8 notice was accurately served) is to negotiate directly with the LL. It is possible to get a LL to agree if they are prepared to be pragmatic - far better for them to get some of the arrears back than end up with a worthless money judgment. But, sometimes LLs are just fed up with non-payers and will want the PO irrespective of any offers to pay the arrears - you need to be prepared for that.

It not being the end of the world was meant to reassure you - lots of people do far worse, and this is recoverable in the sense that it is unlikely the magistrate will send you down for it. Of course it is difficult to cope with things by yourself - but you mentioned earlier you had parents who helped with your child, so clearly they are people you can trust and who should be able to offer you some emotional support. If not, then I strongly suggest you contact your GP to see what advice and support centres there are available in your area. You could have made your payments directly to the council, not the bailiffs. Can I just point out that venting here about all these issues is fine, but don't do it in court. Just stick to the things I mentioned at the end of my last post and accept the responsibility for the situation. That is the best way forward in a court of law on a point of issue over money - particularly when your liberty is at stake.

What do I think? I think you're trying to make someone else responsible for your failure to pay. Look, this isn't the end of the world, and it is unlikely the magistrate will send you to prison once he/she has conducted your means enquiry, so you're very likely to get another opportunity to pay it. You are free, of course, to raise the issue about contacting the bailiffs to discuss payment, but frankly, the court will have heard it all before and because there is no substance to back up your stated willingness to pay prior to these proceedings, there is no concrete, sustained, evidence of this, the court just won't be interested - in fact, they will almost certainly view it as you trying to shift responsibility for your failure onto someone else. For example, had you contacted the bailiffs, or the council, and either one had refused to respond, but you had gone ahead and made even a minimal payment on a regular weekly or monthly basis and could evidence this in court, the magistrate would throw the case out as it would be clear a) you'd tried to contact them and come to an arrangement and b) had shown consistent willingness to reduce the debt. You haven't done that - and paying £30 now is just a mere drop in the ocean and something many people do just before court proceedings. I appreciate that you've had a difficult time and felt you couldn't afford to pay the money or deal with the issues as they unfolded, but you're having to deal with them now and there's no point in looking for someone else to blame. The point is that even if you couldn't phone them, you could have paid, so YES they can class it as unpaid because it IS unpaid. You have to face up to this, make a realistic budget and offer what you can afford - I am fairly certain that it will be accepted at court, so try not to worry too much about being sent down, it's less likely for you as you have a small child who needs you, (though that is never an absolute guarantee). I am not saying any of this to be harsh - it is just the reality of the court system - every excuse you can think of has been used multiple times before and won't work in the situation you are in. Your best bet is honesty: i.e. you simply couldn't afford to pay it, couldn't cope and buried your head in the sand, and despite writing to discuss it with the bailiffs you realise your failure to pay what you planned to offer isn't good. Then state that you are prepared to make payments going forward and are committed to reducing the debt in a consistent manner. As I said, I think you should have a solicitor, it is easy for people to talk themselves into prison when they go on the attack rather than putting up a good defence.

It's a committal summons - which means that everything else has already been tried to get OP to pay her CT, and they are using the committal as a last resort - local authorities usually use this route when they believe the person failing to pay does in fact have the means to pay. You are probably aware you have been incredibly foolish for ignoring this up to this incredibly serious point - but you still have an opportunity to put your case to the court. The magistrate will look in detail at your financial circumstances (so provide full proof and evidence of your income and outgoings at the relevant time), it is called a means enquiry. You will need to explain why you couldn't pay, or why you didn't claim any benefit entitlements and so forth, so it would be best to prepare a written statement covering everything so that you don't leave anything important out. If the magistrate decides that you could not in fact pay for valid reasons he/she has the power to write off the debt in its entirety. Don't forget, he/she also has the power to send you to prison, but the most usual order they make will be to postpone the warrant to send you to prison whilst giving you further time to pay the debt - usually in instalments, so make sure you show what you can afford. At this stage there is no point in saying you can't afford anything at all, so make a realistic offer. If the warrant is postponed, you cannot miss another payment as you'll be arrested and taken to prison (but if you genuinely cannot pay then let the council know in advance). I would strongly suggest that you see a solicitor - if you are on benefits you will probably be entitled to legal aid as your liberty is at stake.

If the mortgagee has an order for possession and they have not executed it until now, it is very likely the court suspended the order on condition that you pay the CMI plus X towards the arrears, which was probably the amount you were paying prior to December 2012. The fact that you were not in court doesn't matter in relation to them obtaining the order - it is your choice as to whether you attend the first hearing or not. If the court made a PO of any description, you would have received a copy of it through the post from the court. Ultimately the mortgagee may have got an outright order from the court and came to an agreement with you...which seems to be what you are saying, but that seems less likey than the court suspending the order on terms. If you have a surplus of £250 this month, then you ought to pay that to the mortgagee as soon as you can to reduce the amount you have fallen behind with this year, and explain to the judge that your income goes down next month. I am sorry but you do have a court order - an eviction notice cannot be issued without one. But so long as you can afford to make the payments you offer, it is highly unlikely that you will lose your home, so try not to worry too much. As Ell states - try and see if your court has duty advisers - it's usually better to let someone else speak for you in court as you will obviously be nervous (though if you do have to go in alone, try not to worry too much as the judge will give you an opportunity to speak).