Hello, A few years ago, you provided absolutely life-changing advice when I was facing eviction from my home. I have managed to keep everything going, with difficulty, for 4 years. On Friday, I was ambushed at work and told that my job was "selected" for redundancy. (I have to add that there are only two full-time employees now where I work....and one is the owner!) I would like to be forewarned as to how fast and how ruthless Mortgage Express is likely to be when my pristine payment record falters. Many thanks for your assistance.

Simple question. Will a current walking possession agreement technically be useless after the 6th of April. If a bailiff has to re-attend in the event of a default on an arrangement, can they use the walking possession from the old reg's to gain entry, or not? My view is no, as the old reg's will be null & void, but I can't find the answer to my question in the new reg's. So, any learned posters know for sure?

We had a letter put through our door yesterday saying notice requiring possession. The notice is dated 04/02/2014 but we have never seen it before. They want us out by the 10th of april. We didn't know about this until yesterday. And today there were builders in the back garden and they have taken down the fence and cut the garden in half. The letter through the door said they were removing two fence panels. This is only one days notice. The letter says we have rent arrears of £2300 but we have had it calculated for us and it is only £798. We feel stuck now because we have nowhere to go and we feel like we can't argue about the garden because that will make it worse. We know they are just playing dirty and scaring us but we really don't know what to do. They are very rich people who own lots of property so we feel like we can't argue against them. Does this notice requiring possession mean we actually have to move out on that day? I'm guessing they will say that they gave us the notice 6 weeks ago but that's a lie. We can't prove it though. Just remembered one more thing. The letter that came with the notice said we are required to leave the property on april 10th 'as stated in the eviction notice we served on you on the 4th February'. I presume they mean the notice for possession and this isn't actually an eviction notice is it? This all feels very unfair! Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi I am in desperate need for help. We are in arrears with our mortgage of £12000 due to mental health and post natal depression issues, all of which were declared to our mortgage company Halifax. We now have a date for a court hearing to determine possession. The solicitors involved have been very helpful in even supporting us with a complaint to Halifax as we do not feel they have followed CML guidelines on arrears. We have set regular repayment plans which have failed because they have not agreed our request to change the payment date of the plan to coincide with my pay date of wages. They have also refused us every opportunity to look at ways to manage the arrears - payment holidays, extended terms etc. I have a few questions to ask.... -does a court order go on file as a CCJ -will proceedings stop if we make a proposal for paying back arrears -will proceedings stop if our employers support us in paying back the arrears in full -if the above, will our name be cleared on our credit report allowing us to apply to remortgage with another company? -can we claim compensation from Halifax for the stress this has caused us as a family? I am now back on anti-depressants and therapy after my mental health was beginning to improve. I now feel I am back to square one!! Any help/advice is really appreciated as we're going out of our mind with worry. Thanks

My first post here as in desperate need of advice. I am at this point £750 in rent arrears which have mounted up over 4 years. I had a suspended possession order in court when arrears were £875 in October. Up to 2 weeks ago I kept to the £56 weekly rent but have slipped with a gambling addiction problem and not paid in last 2 weeks. I get paid weekly of £175 each Saturday and will definitely make a payment 1st thing Saturday. I can't pay £168 this Saturday in one go (2 weeks missed rent plus current payment). I need help urgently as can't face life on the streets. I also owe 2 years council tax which hasnt been paid and various other debts which haven't been paid in years. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

I defaulted on a walking possession agreement with Rossdales for unpaid Council Tax. They arrived today to remove goods stating that i must pay £896.87 or they would remove goods. The goods listed are Sharp 40" tv 2 Seater Fabric sofa Zoostorm Desktop Pc

Hi, wonder if anyone can help me. Received a letter from Kensington that they're going to start possession proceedings for arrears on our mortgage. We currently owe them £11,087 made up as follows: 2010: £2,296, 2011:£6,186. 2012:£186 and 2013:£2418. We have been in contact with them and have had arrangements with them to pay the contractual amount plus an additional £150.00 a month. In 2012 we managed to maintain that as well as in 2013. The arrangement we had with them was being reviewed on a quarterly basis and in November it was agreed that we would pay an additional amount of £190.00 to be reviewed in April 2014. Due to a death in the family we ere unable to make the November payment and on the back of this we have now received this letter for court proceedings from them. We have now made the monthly payment for November and December and also written to them letting them know that we will pay the additional £380.00 in January. We've also asked them if its possible for us to resume with the arrangement made in November and avoid going to court. We have not heard from them nor received a court date, but this could be due to the Christmas holidays. The arrears amount is now £8,624 which is pretty much relates to 2010 and 2011. We're really worried that they will not let us continue with the arrangement and we'll have to go to court. We have kept in regular contact with them over the years and have always tried to maintain whatever payments they've asked from us. We would really appreciate any help or advise you can offer in how we should now approach them. We still have a long way to go on our mortgage and on the current amount they were asking for would take us approx 4 years to clear. Please any help would be greatly appreciated

In January 2011 i went to court after falling into arrears during a serious illness, a suspended repossession order was placed on my property after i had repaid 3/4 of the arrears prior to attending court and a payment plan was agreed via the courts. At the time Wragge and co were the legal reps for future mortgages. There were numerous issues regarding the handling of my case via the solicitors as payments went missing and months later were found in their holding account, I also questioned why my account balance never appeared to reduce also a number of medical evidence document had been sent and allegedly not received, although on one occasion I was informed the documentation had been received and applied to my account, two weeks later the documents miraculously were no where to be found. The mortgage company referred me to their representatives who in turn weren't interested. Due to stress I had a number of small strokes. With the assistance of family I continued to complain about the mishandling of my account, but still nothing changed. In April 2013 Wallers solicitors took over representation for future mortgages. In may 2013 my account was assessed and found that my account had been mishandled (incorrect charges,interest rates and missing payments) and just under £25,000 was removed from the balance of the account. After discovering this I requested details of the whole account and explanations as to why it had taken so long to be looked at .No real explanation was given. A few months later I was diagnosed with secondary cancer and had another stroke, the solicitor asked for updated medical evidence ,which was sent and allegedly not received. While in hospital Wallers instructed an outside agency to visit my house, at no time did they post a note to say they had visited and wished to meet with me, instead they spoke to my neighbours asking questions about my health and personal situation ,even discussing the possibility of my house being repossessed, surely this is a gross breach of confidentiality? In late October 2013 the solicitor requested yet another medical evidence form, the hospital sent one to the solicitor and one directly to the mortgage company. The mortgage company confirmed in writing that they had received the document ,this letter of confirmation was dated 29/11/13 also on the same date they sent a second letter informing me that my account was being transferred to another company, who would contact me after December 16 with details of payment etc. Today I received three letters from the solicitor, one was a form informing the court that wallers now represented the mortgage company and the other two informed me that wallers had applied to the court for a possession order and the court would notify my of the date and time of eviction. I was in hospital receiving chemotherapy at the time of receiving these letters, but now have discharged myself to enable me to try and deal with this mess. To say Its stressful is an understatement. The eviction could take place within days of christmas,I have a young son and an elderly mother who are already worried about my health. Im sorry for such a long winded explanation but I am at my wits end worrying about this. It seems so unfair that after I did everything they asked they do this. Surely if they can send someone to speak to my neighbours they can arrange for someone to visit me to discuss the account. I have sent emails to the solicitor and the mortgage company begging them to reconsider and discuss possible options. Am i being naive or is there a possible light at the end of the tunnel.

Please could someone give me some advice? To cut a long story short my landlady served me with a section 21 notice as work needed carrying out on the property I was renting and she was unwilling to pay out. My local council were unable to house me within the notice period but have now rehoused me and I have handed back the keys to my old house. However my landlady still went ahead to get a possession order which was granted on 20th September. It states I have to be out on or before 4th October and pay £244.50 plus a fixed fee by then too. I am now out of the property but there's no way I can afford that sum of money by Friday. I live with my 2 children on my own and work part time plus have had the additional moving costs. I have spent 4 hours at CAB today but they were not helpful at all and were talking about court bailiffs and mounting court costs. Surely I can't pay what I don't have and there must be others in my situation? I just don't know what to do. Thanks

I am a single parent and a carer of a young person with a severe disability. Because of chronic illness I have been unable to work for a number of years . I have a second mortgage with First Plus which was paid by my PPI insurance. Unfortunately PPI insurance with First Plus is only for the first 5 years of the loan. I got into serious arrears with the loan when the PPI policy expired and First Plus took me to court in May to repossess the property. Fortunately I had surgery in February which corrected by health issues. I had a job to start in June so was able to gain a suspended possession order from the court. The terms of the suspended possession order was that I paid the 600 loan plus 200 per month against the arrears. In June I had to make a 4k payment off the arrears. I had to sell my car to do this. I paid the 4k off the arrears by the due date as per the court order.I did however run into difficulty in July because my new employer does not pay till the 28th and my payment was due on 20th. I therefore paid the 600 on the 20th and the 200 off the arrears a week or so later when I got paid. I have done this for the months of August and September too. To my dismay on Saturday I received a letter from Evershed's the solicitors for First Plus stating they were applying to the court for an eviction date. I tried calling First Plus on Saturday but they refused to talk to me about it as the matter was with their solicitors. I tried calling Eversheds but of course there is nobody there until Monday. I am after being back to work only 3 months in a position to pay on the 20th rather than the 28th when I get paid. I have written to Eversheds and have sent them photos of the receipts to evidence that I have paid all the money I should of. On Saturday I did tell First Plus that I can now pay on 20th by direct debit. First Plus told me that they are unable to set a direct debit for me as the matter was with Eversheds. They also said this in June when I made the same request. I have had to make the payments by cash into Barclays. Can anyone please give me any advice. I could not sleep last night, the stress is enormous. I plan to ask the judge if I can change payment dates to the 28th and if I can pay by direct debit or standing order. I will go to my bank and set up a standing order for the 20th of each month anyhow. I will go to the court tomorrow to ask for an emergency hearing to stop the eviction. Why are First Plus so unreasonable. There behaviour is so aggressive. Just as I thought I was getting my life back on track. Thank you

Hi Please help i have a suspended possession order on my second mortgage/secured loan of cmp £678.77 + £181.28 to clear the arrears and i have missed two monthly payments because i havent been paid my tax credits!! I wrote to them (so i had proof) to let them know straight away and i asked if i could pay a lower amount but i never heard anything. I have now received a letter from there solictors saying they are applying to court for an eviction date, i contacted there solicitors yesterday as the mortgage company are not dealing with it now and they said unless i clear the full arrears balance the eviction will go ahead. I can hopefully get some money in the next week to get me back on track with the agreement will this stop any further action? even though they say the require the arrears in full and will i have to go to court again,please help im very worried thanks

Hi, I am new to this forum and wondering whether anyone can help. We have a Secured Loan which is subject to a possession order which we are now in a position to repay in full. What do I need to get the bank to sign or acknowledge to say that they accept the payment as full and final settlement of this Judgment Order? Is there a particular form I should use. I don't want to pay them anything unless they acknowledge that this will settle the matter in full. Does anyone know of a proforma I can use. Thanks, Mags

Hello I'm new to the site and any help would be great. I have been given a possession order from court - landlord issued section 21 using accelerated process as I am on Assured Short hold Tenancy Agreement. I'm not objecting to going, however, I defended my case by asking for extra time as I will be homeless. I have managed to find a new property which is not easy as I have just lost my job and receiving benefits now, but I cannot move into property for another 3 weeks. I have been told that I can apply to court using N244 form asking for possession order to be suspended for a while. does anyone know if this is possible? I have been dealing with Shelter who have told me they cannot help as I filled in a defense (on their advice) and they cannot help defend again! so any help here would be great. I am panicking now as the possession order is for this week so I need to act urgently. Thank you so much Lily

hi all, i have been renting this property for over 5 years and the rental agreement lapsed so i think i was on what is termed periodic tenancy, a few days ago i got a possession notice giving me 7 weeks to vacate the property 1) is landlord supposed to give me min 8 weeks notice? 2)if i wait for ll to take me to court--as i do not want to make myself intentionally homeless(no deposit for another property) how much will the court cost be?? 3)there does not appear to be deposit scheme in haringey where i live-is shelter the best place to go? many thanks in advance for your help ps even with a deposit-chances of friendly landlord is slim due to prior bankruptcy now on credit file even though i have never been late for a rent payment!

Hi Earlier today I received a letter off my housing assocaition, which included a "notice of seeking possession assured tenancy or an assured agricultural occupancy" A bit of background.... Back in January I received a letter saying if I did not contact them to sort out rent arrears they was going to apply for a notice of seeking possession, for which I contacted them as soon as receiving the letter and in the process arranged a payment plan with them for a set amount each month, which I have paid every month so far.... Due to that they then said I can dis-regard the letter about the notice of seeking possession Earlier in april I received a phone call off a housing officer stating that the bedroom tax has came into/or is coming into effect this month, and stated that my rent was going to nearly double, but never asked me to rearrange my direct debit or anything else Earlier today I phoned the housing up and they said it was possibly due to the bedroom tax that has come out Can they do this ? is it legal ? seeing as I have been paying the agreed amount every month and also the bedroom tax was not in force back in january when the agreement was made I am classed as disabled due to Asperger's Syndrome, I get Incapacity Benefit and DLA, if that helps at all ANY information or help is appreciated !

Hi Folks! In December 2011, GE took us to court as we fell behind with our secured loan with them. The judge ruled in our favour and suspended the order and we all agreed on a given repayment plan of £156 per month. I stuck at that for 9 months, with every month calling GE and paying the amount over the phone, October 2012 when starting a new contract job in London that involved long commuting and even working some Saturdays. I work in IT btw. I know it is not an excuse but the commute overwhelmed me in every sense, and I started to get ill too. I forgot to stick to my repayment. In December, I left that job after it was agreed that it would be better for my health (with the contracted party). I started a new job in January full time closer to home but the employer didn't manage to secure a big client so my wages was a stumbling block for them, so they gave me one week's notice and I lost the job within three weeks of starting. This is purely because they employed me in anticipation of securing a big contract. in Februray, 2013 I had a minor stroke, and was in hospital overnight. I recovered and found another local permanent job. In February, I made a lump sum payment of £500. Up until last week, no communications from GE. Last week thursday,they notified me that they have sought a warrant for possession of the property. On monday, I called GE, and I offered a lump sum payment of £2000 (Aussie tax refund which I got only few days ago ) and I said with the help of my new job, I can increase my monthly to £500 to help clear any backlog. The guy at the other end of the phone didn't even hear my offer and said he declined it! In the end he said come back and when you have a better offer. I came here for help on this forum and with the help of this forum and my sister who was a lawyer but now a mum for two little boys, I submitted on thursday a n244. I made the same offer in my appeal to set aside the judgement. However, I also called GE automated service and paid £2000 for which I should have it appearing on my statement tomorrow (Friday 19th). My hearing is on Monday at 10, while the eviction is set for 23 April at 12.30pm I can demonstrate that I can afford the new repayment but I am so worried. I messed up but I want to rectify but I am not being given the chance. GE want the whole money owed to them which £15k. They say that the £15k is the arrears but that is the full balance . I am confused with this? missed payments at £156 from October till February. I paid them £500 in February as soon as I could. Please help me get myself togeher again. I am still going to hospital appointments for various tests a the doctors trying to find out what caused my mini stroke. They did say that bad news can do this too. In the meantime, I have kept all from my wife as I don't want her to feel the pressure. At the last hearing, she was so scared of losing the home and because of me this might happen again. Please help. I need to go on Monday with some clear ideas, which I am hoping good folks can help me get. Thanks you for reading and helping PS: GE have added a large number of charges that I know some are unfair and they also charged me PPI, which is clearly marked on my contract! I will seek these back, soon as I have done with them. Please help. Thanks Another point: My telephone offer was for £2000 lump sum, and increase of monthly obligations from £156 to £500 and set up Direct Debit. The last point of direct debit was left out in the N244 which was done in a panicky state as I originally thought the eviction was for monday and wanted to hand in the n244 by end of wednesday! I have also made a hasty mistake too: My statement for n244 says offer of £2000 lump sum but have paid this by phone. Oh dear, what to do next? I know I need to stay calm, as my blood pressure was 152 in my last test at the hospital last week! I haven't slept since last week and hardly eaten but put on a brave face for my 14 year daughter and my wife. They hardly know anything. But it is getting me donw.

Can somebody please point me in the right direction? We have two accounts with HSBC which we got into arrears with, when the business went into administration in June 2009. Various letters and correspondence transpired until we ended up in the following situation. 28.09.11 HM Courts & Tribunals Service, ****** County Court Order for possession (Mortgaged Premise) (suspended) On the 26.09.11 at ***** County Court This order has been made on discretionary grounds and the court orders that 1) The defendant give the claimant possession of ***** on or before 24.10.11 2) This order is not to be enforced so long as the defendant pays the claimant the unpaid installments under the mortgage of ****, by the payments set out below in addition to the current installments under the mortgage. 3) Payment required £534.00 per month, the first installment to be paid on or before 01.10.11 07.10.11 Letter from Shoosmiths acting on behalf of HSBC, at the hearing on 26.09.11 the Judge granted an order for possession suspended on payments of your monthly installment plus £534.00 per month towards the arrears. According to Mortgage A, HomeOwner Loan the balance outstanding @ 31.01.13 is £36,959.51, based on your original offer document the remaining term of your loan is 7 years and 3 months. Which would mean 87 payments of £424.83; I am currently paying £685.01 per month (Mortgage plus arrears) According to Mortgage B, HomeOwner Loan the balance outstanding @ 19.03.13 is £4,166.45, based on your original offer document the remaining term of your loan is 7 months. Which would mean 7 payments of £595.20, I am currently paying £700.47 per month (Mortgage plus arrears), I am not too bothered about this one, as that would see me paying that off a month earlier. Because I am ahead of the repayments based on the terms for each loan, does that mean I am no longer in arrears, I must admit I am not sure what the arrears figure finally was, but based on what I have said would have hoped so, would it be best to write to HSBC and ask them for clarification. We have paid the Mortgages plus arrears without fail since October 2011, I just need to know what I can do now to remove the threat of the suspended possession order and get back to what I should be paying, based on the remaining terms of the loans, do I go back to the solicitors Shoosmiths, HSBC, The Court or all of them. If there are any questions then please ask, I have tried to keep it brief, but with as much information as possible, thanks for reading.

I would be grateful for any advice on the next steps I should take to avoid repossession of my property when the hearing listed for 12 April takes place. Background: In 2007 I purchased a flat with my wife. This property was rented out until August 2011. We would receive any post addressed to us from the tenants. In February 2012 (having moved into the property in August 2011) we received a letter from a landlord which claimed that we owed ground rent arrears (but only back to January 2009) totalling £500 plus late payment fees and interest (in all a total of £952). Up to this date we thought that the ground rent was included in the sums we paid as service charge and we had never been asked to pay rent to anyone nor had we received any previous correspondence relating to ground rent. I contacted the solicitor acting for the landlord and offered to pay the £500 ground rent but queried the fees of £452 since I had never previously been asked to pay ground rent and I wanted to see copies of the correspondence requesting it. The solicitor refused to accept the part payment (as they described it) and told me that the landlord was unable to generate copies of any correspondence it had sent me because none were kept on file. They had records of the dates when letters and notices were sent to me and that was all. I wrote to them saying that I would be prepared to pay a portion of the fees but since I hadn't received the letters I didn't think it was reasonable to ask for payment in full. I heard nothing more and forgot about the issue entirely. In January 2013 I received a possession claim form and shortly after that a notice of hearing dated 12 April. The amount claimed in arrears was now £1,950. I contacted the solicitor again and this time it was a different person daling with it. She asked me to send copies of the email exchanges in Feb 2012 which I did. I informed her that I had no had any prior notice of the court proceedings and couldn't see how they could run up costs without my involvement. She then sent me a letter dated Novemeber 2012 which again I had not received. I offered to pay £1,200 to settle the claim and this was refused by the landlord via its solicitor. They seemed adamant that my mortgage company would pay the full sum. In the event I filed a defence and when I showed it to the mortgage company they accepted that there was a genuine disoute and declined to become involved unless there was a real risk to their security. In correspondence with the landlord's solicitor I was also able to clarify that the reason there was any delay in seeking the ground rent was because the landlord had only taken over the freehold in March 2010. I then filed a defence arguing that: 1) some of the sums claimed as ground rent preceded the date of ownership by the current landlord (they claimed arrears and fees dating back to January 2009); 2) the lease entitled the landlord to reimbursement of reasonable costs incurred by it in enforcing the lease but not to late payment fees - accordingly these fees were not owed; 3) the sums claims as legal costs were excessive and unreasonable given that these had been incurred without recourse to me and with no attempt to respond to my email in Feb 2013; 4) the landlord had in fact refused to accept the ground rent and on that basis could not seek the costs of the possession claim some £654; 5) the legal costs had not been itemised and were duplicative (namely fixed costs had been claims in addition to the actual legal costs incurred in preparing the claim and aland registry fee had been claimed twice); 6) there was no evidence the landlord had ever actually served a section 3 notice on me (it was unable to produce copies)and thus it could not show that it had ever notified me of its ownership and name and address and on that basisd I denied there was any right to the rent; 7) finally, i argued that forfeiture of the lease would not be proportionate and would be a breach of article 8 since my family (including two young children live in the flat). Since I issued the defence the landlord has offered to accept £1,600 to settle the dispute as a gainst the total claimed of £1,952. The questions I have are as follows: 1) should I accept this offer to avoid the risk of losing my property; 2) if I do accept it is there anything I need to be wary of (i.e. do i need to seek relief from forfeiture which might have further costs implications or have we not reached the stage of the existing lease being forfeited yet as the hearing has not taken place); 3) given the defence above should I apply additional pressure on the landlord by making an application to strike out the possession claim? If I did that is it likely that the application would succeed. 4) are there any other tactics I could employ to get the costs claimed down to a reasonable level? Thanks very much for any advice you can give me - I appreciate your help. Kind regards Michael

Hi Can anyone help me, i am trying to create a thread on here, i stupidly got myself in to debt a few years ago after suffering from depression (this is not an excuse) i am not trying to sort it out, i got myself in council tax arrears for around £800 however with court costs and fees there now saying its over £1000 they took me to court and got rossendales involved, anyway someon attended my property to do a levy or walking posssession, i panicked at the first letter and let them in, whilst doing the WOP the guy sat in a chair looked around my living room and wrote a couple of things he could see down such as a SKY HD box, an arm chair, a laptop, a side table, when he put the laptop down i said that it was not mine that it was on HP and i obviously had the documents to prove this, his words were then "its ok, we just have to write a few things down thats all, its not important" so after this i stupidly signed this and he left saying i had to send some paperwork of what i earn and pay out etc to the head office, which i did, after a month or so i heard nothing until another bailfiff letter arrived saying if i didnt pay in full they were coming to removed my goods, so i rang the bailiff who was awful and he said hes not interested in my excuses just when im paying, after the phone call i made a complaint to rossendales about the bailiff etc and they first stated they had not recieved my documents, then said yeah we did but it was too late so i had to send it all again offering them a payment of £30 per month, they wrote back and refused this and said i must pay £100 per month, i set up a standing order and a payment of £10 was made in october then another payment of £120 was made in November 2012, the next 2 payments havent been taken from my account i can only assume there wasnt enough money in to cover it, on thursday 21st February a bailiff attended again stating i had paid nothing since october and handed me a letter whish says he will return in 24hours to remove the goods, now ive since spoken to him on the phone and siad i was waiting to speak to the CAB he said to get them to ring him, Firstly there is nothing in my property even worth anything near the debt and i cant get in to see the CAB until 21st March, the bailiff is expecting them to ring him tomorrow, I am a single parent earning just over £600 per month and am 18weeks pregnant, i cant afford £100 per month, and now i dont no what to do im worried sick, ive emailed a complaint to rossendales but by the looks of things im going to come home from work to find my house emptied, i even suggested to the bailiff that an Attachement of earnings would make more sense and he said they cant do that as i work part time and they cant do it for part time wages. I just dont no where i stand legally and am worried sick, can anyone help

In 1993, our lender was granted a possession order which was suspended as we came to an arrangement with them. Recently, our lender became very aggressive and applied to the court for permission to enforce the order which they were granted by a judge who refused to hear our arguments for it not to be granted. Can anyone advise on this? Many thanks. PS Sorry (it's my 1st post) I've just noticed I should have posted this in the "repossessions" section?

Hi Ell-enn/all, NRAM are taking me to court on 12 Feb 2013 for possession of my property. I have read your very helpful guide titled 'Dealing with the threat of Repossession or Eviction' and have picked up several tips in order to put forward my defence. My circumstances are that due to depression (for which I was on medication) I was unable to maintain my (self-employed) business and fell into arrears (about £4,500 on a monthly payment of £898 (interest only) at the moment). I am currently actively looking for work and claiming benefits for my wife and I. I have no current income (and savings that are heading towards zero) before the benefits kick in (which shdould take a few weeks from here) so I am not able to maintain my current contractual mortgage payment (or work to clear the arrears) until I get a job (hopefully in the next few months). Other than following your guide (i.e. showing evidence of my illness that caused my work issues and a copy of a recorded delivery letter I am writing to NRAM tomorrow (referencing conversations I have had with them)) is there anything else you would recommend I give to the court before the hearing that would be beneficial for me? Is the fact that I cannot offer payments to NRAM at the moment until benefits/job kicks likely to be quite bad news for me via the court? Many thanks.

Does anyone know if Khela v Dainter had been heard in the appeals court yet, please !

Hi everyone, I'm new to this site so please forgive my lack of knowledge in advance of abbreviations, "lingo" etc etc, I'll try to learn as quickly as I can..! My mortgage for my home is with Oakwood Homeloans Ltd and they were given a possession order in December 2010 and they have sent a bailiff around just before Xmas 2012 with an eviction notice for 1st Feb 2013 on the basis I am in arrears on the court appointed arrangement. There is an awful lot of history with my mortgage that has caused all sorts of problems and I will try and outline some of the main points which will hopefully be able to shed some light on the situation for anyone willing to offer some advice... In 2009, without my knowledge, agreement or any discernible reason, Oakwood Homeloans altered my mortgage from a standard 'homeowner' mortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage and increased my interest rate by 1%. They claimed their reasoning for this was that they had a letter they sent returned by the post office with 'Addressee gone away' written on it. When I later received a letter telling me they were about to increase my mortgage interest rate and therefore increasing my payment by about £90 per month, I phoned them up to find out what on earth was going on and to let them know that I live at the property (single father with sole custody of my daughter... Mortgage joint with ex-partner though, but not had sight nor sound of her in about 4-5 years). I also let them know that I'd always lived there since buying it and it had never been rented or unoccupied. Oakwood Homeloans stated that it was now "too late" for me to just tell them this as they had sent me several letters to ask whether I was renting the property and that was not allowed under the terms of the mortgage without their consent. I informed them that I had not responded because I had not received any such letters, I went on to explain that the post in the area was particularly bad at that time and it's not beyond likelihood the letters had gone to neighbouring address as I regularly received post for various neighbours (This was a well known fact in the area at the time, when I spoke to my local post office, they said they'd had several reports similar already but couldn't do anything about it without proof of stolen post etc etc). I asked for items to be sent recorded delivery in future if they were going to take such drastic action based on such lacking information. As I'm sure you're already guessing, they simply said this is not possible (I made this request across numerous phone calls with them and in writing... still refused). Anyway, the point is.... They said it was now too late just to tell them I lived there and I now had to send them proof in the form of a council tax bill and 2 utility bills. I thought this was ridiculous but agreed on the basis they sent first sent me written confirmation that they would agree to my charge of £50 for doing so and the waste of my time (The cost of an hour's labour in my line of work). The lady on the phone didn't agree or disagree, simple "avoided" it, despite my best efforts. So I refused on principal to send such information to them without this agreement to pay my costs for doing so. I asked the lady where in the terms of the mortgage I was required to do this but she couldn't tell me (having read the terms in full, there is no reference in them to such a requirement). Furthermore, there is nowhere in them that states they could change my mortgage to a buy-to-let product in the way they had.... This was also pointed out to them at one of the court hearings in November 2010 (and there advocat also agreed he couldn't find anywhere where it stated that they could). So, this meant that because they never agreed to pay my charge, they shortly after switched my mortgage to a buy-to-let, despite my objections and subsequently increased what they wanted my mortgage payment to be by approx £90 per month. At the time of this occuring, I was in arrears with my account to approx £3,600. With the extra £90, Oakwood were saying my payments should now be about £815 per month instead of £725. Previously, I had already agreed to up my payments to £850 per month to clear the arrears, paying off £125 of it each month. Obviously, as soon as they increased interest rate and payment to £815, this meant I was only paying off £35 in their eyes. I had many more phone calls with them and after a few started to insist they were forcing me to pay towards a mortgage product I had not requested or agreed to and that unless they changed it back I would stop making payments until they do so, as I am not going to continue to pay towards a product I did not 'buy'. At this point I had paid £3,400 during the period they had changed my mortgage and again on several calls to them, insisted that I considered this as payment towards my arrears of £3,600, leaving my total arrears at £200 and that as they have me on an un-agreed buy-to-let mortgage, they must have put my actual mortgage into suspension (as I was unable to make payments which would be considered as being towards this during this period.... Had I paid £725 during this period, they would have considered this an underpayment and charged me for that fact rather than accepting it as my actual contractual payment). On the phone, they never really offered much comment to this and the response to my written complaint was simply to demand the utility bills again. Eventually, in Feb 2010, they sent a representitive from a debt management company who's original intention was to go through my finances etc and look at coming up with a solution to the reported arrears to him by Oakwood Homeloans. Once I explained the situation he saw no need to go through finances etc as he could clearly see there were issues with the account and he also kindly said he would confirm back to Oakwood that it was absolutely clear I was living there. Not until september 2010 did Oakwood Homeloans finally concede to the report given back to them by this agent and even then, they said they would refund the extra 1% loading but only backdated it to April 2010 (2 months after the agent had visited me at home). They kept insisting for any more 'backdating' I would still need to provide the utility and council tax bills, to which I kept insisting I was happy to do once I had received written confirmation they would accept my £50 charge for my time and inconvenience of having to supply this. Again, I never received this confirmation. I also insisted that I did not accept this 'backdating', as I read it, they has changed my product to one not agreed by myself (In the terms and conditions of the mortgage, they refer to the buy-to-let mortgages in a way that they are clearly treating it as a different product to the standard mortgage and not as a standard mortgage with a 1% interest rate loading as they kept trying to refer to their actions as). Furthermore, when they eventually returned the mortgage back to the standard product, instead of my basic monthly payment being £725, it was suddenly £740 per month due to them having carried out a recalculation at the time of 'altering' the interest rate... So for their mistake of increasing my interest rate (and carrying out a recalculation based on the outstanding balance of the mortgage) and then putting the interest rate back to the correct one (and then carrying out another recalculation based upon the outstanding balance at that time, obviously inclusive of all the additional charges/fees etc they'd added), I am now being charged an additional £15 per month. I have argued this with them, but everyone I speak to doesn't appear to understand the basic mathematics of this and the concept that they made an error changing the mortgage product and are charging me an extra £15 per month for this error of theirs. If they hadn't made this error, no recalculations would have occurred and my basic monthly payment would still be the £725. Moving forward, they then applied to court for a possession order based on arrears of approximately £11,000 by this point (as I'd continued to refuse to pay for the period they had it listed as a buy-to-let mortgage). I went to court arguing an arrears figure of approximately £4,500 based on my understanding of my mortgage being suspended whilst the product had been changed and the court agreed and stated this as the arrears figure within the judgement (This had jumped up from the £200 arrears I previously mentioned because towards the end of the period they had it as a buy-to-let, I had a change in circumstances which resulted in a reduction in income and I therefore hadn't made a number of the payments due after they 're-activated' my actual mortgage product. At the time they applied to court, the arrears figure by my calculations was about £1,200 but by the time of getting to court and a ruling, the arrears were approx £4,500 and I accept I had made very little contributions to the monthly payments during that period). Anyway, as I said, the judge accepted my figures, as well as my reasoning for the monthly contribution beign £725 rather than the £740 they claimed and had a bit of a go at their advocate, who had also agreed he saw nothing in the terms of the mortgage that allowed them to take the course of action they did. They were also ordered to provide me within 7 days of the relavent Ombudsman details of who to complain to about the treatment I had received. Since the judgement in December 2010, which was for me to pay my £725 per month towards my contractual monthly amount and £125 towards the arrears of £4,500, totalling £850 per month, I kept up to date with this. My decline in my personal income was overcome by me going self employed (previous problem caused by the company I worked for going under, leaving me with unpaid wages that I couldn't recover), so I was now making the payments ok. From April 2012, things with my business have been quite difficult and I started to struggle to make the payments, ocassionally missing the date I had to make payment by, but then I would make up for it by paying a few weeks later than I should or on 1 occasion, paying double when the following month was due. Most of these recent income problems have been caused by customers being late paying me and me all of a sudden I was finding it a lot more difficult to get paid for some of the work I was doing. Obviously, this was having the knock on effect that I was being late with my mortgage, but to my knowledge I was always catching back up with where I should be. Because I was speakign to Oakwood Homeloans every month to make the payments, they were fully aware of the situation because they asked every time what the reason was and to some extent they appeared to be understanding of this. Then in December I was coming up to being about 5 or 6 weeks overdue, so technically 2 payments were overdue, one by 6 weeks, the other by 2 weeks. At this point I had a knock on the door from a bailiff of the court with an eviction notice for 1st February. To say my heart sank is an understatement! At the same time furious that all my grievences are simply washed over and ignored by them... Since the court judgement in December 2010, they continue to state my arrears as approximately £11,000 on all the correspondence they send me and still insist the contractual monthly payment is £740, so are only deducting £110 from the arrears figure (if that because there figures still don't add up by over £1,000 between Dec 2010 and now). By my reckoning, since December 2010 (24 months ago), I have made 24 contributions of £125 towards the arrears, so by my figures, my arrears would be £1,500. According to Oakwood, in December 2010, the arrears were £11,360.60 and as of today, they claim they are £11,183.70... Work that one out... A reduction of £176.90 (I used the exact stated figures here as have them on the paper in front of me from Friday's phone call to them). Before Christmas, I sent a cheque to them for £1,700, which I again believed brought me back up to date with the court appointed payment requirements. The reason for my phone call to them on Friday was 2-fold. Firstly, I'd spoken to them a week or so earlier stating that I would call back on this Friday to make a further payment of £850, i.e. the payment due at the beginning of this month, therefore again being up to date and secondly they were nattering me to complete an income and expenditure form, which was highly annoying, I kept insisting there was a court appointed amount I have to pay each month (£850), but they said this is irrelavent now because I had been late with payments and they therefore needed to do an income/expediture form to be able to assesss the affordability and then they could put this to their credit managers who would make a decision as to whether this was acceptable... So, reluctantly I agreed to do this over the phone and I was therefore calling last friday to chase up the outcome of this as it had been over a week with no reply which I didn't find acceptable given the impending eviction. The lady on the phone put me on hold, spoke to the credit managers and came back saying they wont accept the payment offer of £850 per month until they had received and assessed 3 months bank statements and proof of income. By this point I was fuming and refused to give them this information. I stated I see no reason why they need to see bank statements to assess the affordability of this (they said they need to do this so that they are not putting undue stress on the customer... Funnily enough, I'm finding the impending eviction somewhat more stressful!!!). I've never needed to do this with them in the past, I've just told them what I can afford to pay to set up a repayment schedule (when dealing with my arrears before any eviction proceedings in 2010). I also have a secured loan with GE Money and there was a period when that was in arrears and again, they never asked for any of this, just asked how I was going to clear the arrears and then they inputted this. At this point I said that the £850 I was going to pay during the course of this call, I was not willing to do so without there being an agreement in place to suspend the eviction and accept the £850 per month. My reasoning was if I was about to be homeless in 2 to 3 weeks, I would need that money to try and set up somewhere else for my daughter and I to live. The lady on the phone was quite understanding of this, I suspect she could gauge how stressed I was. But it was also at this point she informed me that paying that £850 would not have brought me up to date anyway, there was an additional payment I had missed between April that year and now. I was sure she was wrong because everytime I phoned to make a payment I had it confirmed to me that the payment I was making had brought me up to date with the agreement. Having spent ages trailing through my bank statements, it does seem as though she is correct, but I just can't comprehend how they can continually misinform me like this! The lady on the phone was apologetic for this, but that doesn't really help my situation at the moment. So after all this, I am desperate for some advice if possible as to what on earth I can do??? My thoughts are that I approach the court directly and ask for a suspension of the eviction on the following reasons: 1. Oakwood Homeloans have not abided by the court order because they continue to harrass me, stating arrears of over £11,000 and an incorrect contractual monthly figure, despite being told different figures by the court (they have taken no notice at all of the court's figures in the obtained judgement). 2. Although I agree I am behind by £850 on the court apointed repayment schedule, I am not behind on the mortgage... Technically, since the court order of December 2010, I have paid £19,550 towards the mortgage. The contractual payments due in this period to today are £18,125. So I am only actually in arrears on paying the arrears. In this period, I have paid all the contractual payments plus £1,425 toward the arrears. If I were to pay the £850 I have to hand that I would have paid last Friday, that would be a further £850, bringing me to having paid £2,275 towards the arrears of £4,500. I am happy to have this payment available there and then at the courthouse at my suspension of the eviction hearing, so they can see me pay it right in front of them if necessary. Assuming I can then also get them a further £850 before the end of January and bring the court appointed payments bang up to date, then this would leave the total arrears at me having paid £3,125 towards them, leaving just £1,375 arrears still to clear on the court order, but being up to date with the payment schedule set out in the order of December 2010. My next step is also that I now plan to contact the Ombudsman about the whole way my account has been dealt with. I can't begin to describe the stress this has put me under for the past 3 years or so. With a young daughter, this weighs heavily over me everyday, worrying about her. I realise I would have been wise to contact the Ombudsman straight away when advised to do so by the judge back in December 2010 but I hate conflict and concentrated instead on just getting my head down and getting on with my everyday life of raising my daughter and earning the funds to pay my mortgage etc. I've been pushed beyond the point of no return though, with Oakwood Homeloans complete disregard for everything presented to them by both me and the court and simply trying to plough forward on their own agenda. My complaint to the Ombudsman will be based around the main part of this post (but in more detail... Yes, I realise this post is ridiculously long and waffly, but there's far more detail behind even what I have written here!), along with all the other evidence such as the letters I sent them, the responses received etc etc. But my biggest concern obviously is the immediate issue of the eviction on 1st February and trying to get this suspended. I would be very grateful for any advice on how to go about constructing my application to have the eviction suspended, should I include everything that's in this post or stick to purely the 2 numbered points above? Surely they wont evict someone who's actually paid all of the contracutal monthly amounts plus some of the arrears??? Well I'm praying they wont anyway!! I would like to offer my sincerest of thanks in advance to anyone patient enough to have read all of this and to offer me any advice they can. Having read a few threads before posting, there are clearly some absolutely champions around here!

Been a while since I've been on here. Hope you are all still as friendly. I bought a number of ground rents about 20 years ago. Most are 999 years and some pay some don't. The rents are only nominal of a few pounds a year. The problem is on one in particular. It is vacant and getting vandalised and has been for years. I have no idea who owns it and it hasn't been sold in the last 20 years to my knowledge. The council are getting onto me as I have my name on the Land Registry as there are drug users/ dumping etc and they are clearing it up and slapping charging orders on the house. What I'd like to do is own the house. Wouldn't we all. What are my chances if I slap valid notice under section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925 - the Notice of Seeking Possession? Alternatively gaining possession myself. Getting it modernised (most is superficial) and letting it out. Your thoughts would be appreciated. Cheers Steve

Hi all, I have received an Eviction notice (notice requiring possession under Section 8 & 21 of Housing Act 1988) (in fact several during the last 6 months but they were wrong and a correct one just a month ago) from my landlord. In the letter I have two months notice to leave the property (deadline is 28 January 2012). I have a one year Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement that will end on 29 December 2012, but I have not found another accommodation due to my sickness. When I went to see a Citizen Advice Bureau, they have told me that it after the given deadline I still in the property the landlord could sent me to the court and I will have the opportunity to to give my point of view to the judge: the problem is that the landlord could mislead me or her representative (other tenant) could destroy the notification letter from the Court so I could not attempt the trial. Also, I would like to know if I should send a form 244 to the court by today or if it is better to wait for the Eviction court hearing. Thanks in advance for your help, MoonTop Ps : The landlord had tried to unlawfully evict me several times few months ago. My rent payment is presently up to date but I had two weeks delay during the last 10 months due to the Housing Benefit payment delay.