Facing REPO on 19th Friday, Please HELP us

[pagekeeper]

Hi, me and my mother and brother have been given an Order for possession for our home.

 

We have lawyers on the case BUT, I wanted to seek some more advice. Firstly this letter came today 18th.

 

They are chasing up Arrears for renting our property. The original court date was January then was adjourned to 25th February because of the benefits decision.

 

Today the 18th, we got a letter stating that the court date was infact on the 6th February. Having not received any letters before that the court date was changed again, we did not attend court which meant we had no defence and completely and utterly lost the case.

 

My mother went to drop a copy of this paper off but she was apparently in a meeting with another client.

 

Benefits have commenced payments and also my mother has been paying 100x more than the courts have asked in order to catch up the arrears.

 

My friend tells me our lawyer has made many mistakes and that she should have known all of this? Although there was no indication at all that the court dates were changed. Just this letter written on the 13th Feb recived today and surely they cant leave us with TWO days to pack our bags.....and we havent been given any notice.

 

My lawyer/student friend says that we need to get a Emergency application to post-pone the eviction although she says shes not 100% on the regulations and what exact forms there are.

 

Rented property and housing association, my mother has been granted housing benefits.

[hallowitch]

bump

[dehowletts]

Hi

 

One of the experienced people will hopefully pick this up in time but as just a member of joe public afew questions come to mind reading your thread:

 

• you need to let the court know ASAP in the morning that you only just received the letter
  
• if your renting your propery is it a private rental?
  
• if so do you have a contract?
  
• if the answer to the above is yes CHECK the contract they usually have to give you 2 months notice to vacate did they do this prior to the eviction order?
  
• was the letter you received today dated the 13th sent recorded or special delivery? (i.e. did you have to sign for it?) if not this again may help
  
• contact shelter first thing too Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity - choose your location they sometimes have one of their legal bods in court (in my case it fell on the wrong day but you may get lucky)
  
• how much is still outstanding?
  
• do you have evidence that you can take to show how hard your mum's been trying to clear the arrears?
  

Sorry I can't help you further and as i said initially I'm no expert this are just the things i can think of that may help you

 

Hope you get the help you need in time to stop this I'm sure you will they're quite vigilant in picking up cries for help

 

Best Wishes

 

Claire

[Sparkie1723]

This might help folks who are behind with mortgage loan payments and facing repossession orders. Just a little ray of hope.

 

sparkie

 

 

Possession Orders

It is widely accepted by the court following the case of Cheltenham and Gloucester -v- Norgan that Borrowers only need to demonstrate that they can pay the current monthly mortgage payment, and their contribution towards the arrears such that the arrears will be paid over the remaining mortgage term. Thus a person with £2,400 arrears with 20 years remaining on the mortgage (240 months) only has to agree to pay the current instalment, and £10 more to have the Order suspended. This is much more manageable, and less likely to result in further default.

[jaxads]

Hi - you would need to complete a form N244 (which you can download from the HMCS website) and take it to the court immediately with the fee of £35. ELL-ENN will be able to help you with a witness statement and I'm sure she'll be around shortly.

 

What time have they given for eviction?

 

As soon as the court opens this morning you need to ring them and let them know that you wish to apply for an application but have not been able to do so any sooner through no fault of your own.

 

i'll pm Ell-Enn now and ask her to have a look at your thread.

 

Best wishes.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, you do indeed need to enter an N244 at court first thing this morning! I will stay on line, checking this thread every few minutes to see if you need help with a statement for the form.

 

You can download it here: www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk Select Forms and Guidance from the menu on the left hand side and enter N244 in the box. You can then go to the page to download the form.

 

 

Ell-enn

[pagekeeper]

THANKS SO much.

 

I probably will need some assistance with a statement not sure how formal etc it needs to be.

 

We just went to our lawyer, her secretary phoned her and asked wether we could see her and she said no and i asked whether shes actually read the letter and she rang back and asked. The secretary said she did, but personally i dont think she did. I think this group are taking to many cases my mother says that shes visibly stressed. I havent met her. I think there is a form of negligence. Although my mum said shes used her twice before regarding the similar cases and we've won, i just think we've been taken by suprise.

 

I dont want to waste your time so we'll go again at 12Pm today. if she doesnt do anything i will pursue this with your help and i'll let you know asap.

 

Thanks

Very much

Ash.

[Ell-enn]

Is this an eviction order? (if so is it for today or tomorrow) or an order for possession?

[pagekeeper]

• you need to let the court know ASAP in the morning that you only just received the letter - We've tried that, apparentely their computers are down, how convenient.
  
• if your renting your propery is it a private rental? Rental from PCHA housing association
  
• if so do you have a contract? I asked my mum that yesterday, we've been here more than 10years so thats a no.
  
• if the answer to the above is yes CHECK the contract they usually have to give you 2 months notice to vacate did they do this prior to the eviction order? -
  
• was the letter you received today dated the 13th sent recorded or special delivery? (i.e. did you have to sign for it?) if not this again may help - To confirm that the letter was NOT Signed For or Recorded
  
• contact shelter first thing too Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity - choose your location they sometimes have one of their legal bods in court (in my case it fell on the wrong day but you may get lucky) - I think we'll see our lawyer first? As its a charity i feel guity for using their time.
  
• how much is still outstanding? - £1800 remaining Although this was more than £3,500 at one point but i think housing benefits have trickled through we are paying as much as possible my mother says she has proof of £800 worth of payment to PCHA. Housing benefits owe large amounts of money in back payments. Although we have another lawyer dealing with that as its a seperate issue.
  
• do you have evidence that you can take to show how hard your mum's been trying to clear the arrears? - Unfortunately no we dont, PCHA have the proof of payments although my mother asked for a copy of payments on the phone, they said it would be sent but it wasnt recieved.
  

 

Since we have JUST received the letter yesterday, the possession order is for FRIDAY 20TH!! WHICH LEAVES US WITH 24HRS NOTICE.

 

It says "Order For Possession" in the top left corner.

[Ell-enn]

Sorry, is this a rental property - not a possession claim from a mortgage company?

[pagekeeper]

Sorry, is this a rental property - not a possession claim from a mortgage company?

 

Yes. The possession order letter came directly from HMcourts with no prior knowledge to the court dates being changed :-|

 

This is not a private rental. Its a housing association.

[pagekeeper]

no prior knowledge to the court dates being changed :-|

 

Just curious but isnt that itself breaking the law? I mean, if the letter from HMCourts came any later we'd have already been thrown out surely?

 

I think PCHA was a charity but i think recently became private and incorporated with Genesis Group or something, i mean they are building a huge 36 canal side flats down the road, i couldnt believe that. I think is a council house sort of agreement. Otherwise the rent would probably be 2x the amount we're currently paying, weekly.

Edited February 19, 2009 by pagekeeper

[pagekeeper]

Basically our lawyer said that it was a mistake. We were petrified for the whole night.

 

She rang PCHA to ask what had happened, but couldn't speak to her. Our lawyer spoke to a manager who went on to say that it was very strange that they would send a possession order without letting us know and that it was on mandatory grounds. Therefore she says its the courts error, temp staff perhaps. They usually have multiple cases in one go and apparently my mother may have got mixed up.

 

Thanks for the support though its really appriciated, its happy ending (sort of) at least for now

[Ell-enn]

Whew! thats a relief

[Sparkie1723]

Whew! thats a relief

 

I agree Ell-enn, someone will sleep a little bit easier tonight.

 

sparkie

[pagekeeper]

I agree Ell-enn, someone will sleep a little bit easier tonight.

sparkie

 

haha yep, i will do.

 

Our lawyer managed to get a hold of the rent officer in the afternoon, I think our lawyer tried to adjourn the case again or settle the arrear payments outside court but since the arrears are actually a lot more than i thought. the officer said unless we pay £2000 upfront to clear arrears we will go to court on the proper agreed date Febuary 25th.

 

Our laywer said that they will dismiss things like back payments of housing benefits as is not relative to whats is actually being paid a the moment, is this accurate?

We have another lawyer dealing with back payments of rent.

[dehowletts]

Hi

 

I know you said you didn't want to contact Shelter because they are a charity but this is part of what they were set up to do.

 

I spoke to my sister who used to work for CAB (citizen's advice) and rental problem's were part of what she dealt with (not mortgages) and she said that they (CAB) refer cases like yours to shelter as they quite can often intervene on your behalf to help familes avoid becomming homeless.

 

She said depending on where you live you'll either have a local office or if you don't CAB will have a day when shelter are there for drop in sessions.

 

She also said that Shelter do encourage families to come to them before becomming homeless so I really don't think they'd want you to feel guilty at all for using their time,

 

I know with my situation I felt exactly the same as you! (I know I had the perception too that it was for people who were homeless but apparently I was wrong!)

 

Cx