Urgent Repossession Help!!!

[sjt]

Hello there

 

Im hoping someone can help me.

 

I have 12 mnths arrears on a northern rock mortgage that has a possession hearing on thursday 18/06/09 - I ony recieved the documents today the 16th and therefore wont be able to re-arrange work comitments to attend the hearing however my partner (not named on the mortgage) can attend to discuss the way forward etc. Northern Rocks idea was that I just sent the forms in to the court - so my first question is which forms do i need as i dont have any, im assuming its soe kind of means testing form??? Also Northern rock have also said that the court would only consider my income and not out joint situation although my partner will be paying household bills and I am jus to cover the mortgage from my wage - this is now 100% do-able as my other half has managed to find fulltime work after being laid off last year(hence the arrears) - can anyone help resolve what I can expect the court to do, we have 9k arrears and can make the monthly payment and £100 towards arrears each month ideally I would like the judge to say yes but Im still very worried my partner wont be allowed in and any paperwork i have wont be able to be presented! Any kind words woudl help right now.

 

So it anyone knows what the situation is and which forms i need i woudl be very grateful

[PGH7447]

I would strongly suggest that you re-arrange your work comitments, this is after all your home you are talking about

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, as your partner is not jointly responsible for the mortgage he cannot represent you at the hearing - he could accompany you if you were attending but in reality the mortgage has nothing to do with him.

 

I would strongly urge you to try to get to the hearing - the only other thing you can do is send in your defence with a letter to the court explaining that you only got the papers today and are uable to get time off work - the downside to that is that you won't know what the other side's legal rep is saying and you wouldn't be able to defend them.

 

How come you have only just got the court forms today if the hearing is next week? Have they come from the court? If so - within the court claim pack there will be a N11M defence form which you need to fill in and take back to the court. I can help you with Q.27 of the form which is the most important part. When filling in the income and expenditure part of the form Q17 - put your partners financial contribution in the part which says others living in my home give me.....

 

Let me know if you need further help.

 

Ell-enn

[sjt]

I know - but the work stuff is bring in the income and if i dont attend it wont go well at all. My other half is happy to take a statement from me and all the forms etc - is there much the judge will want to know apart from the whos, whys etc and the income/financial details?

[Ell-enn]

I agree with PGH - it is VERY important you attend - the judge will not discuss the claim with your partner if he is not jointly responsible for the mortgage.

[sjt]

Ell-enn the courts said they sent forms out 2 yrs ago but we paid any arrears off then so it didnt get to the court. The forms were only posted out from eversheds on the 12th of June and didnt arrive until today - no means testing etc included?! If we can show that our income covers the mortgage and the arrears shoud there be any problems or do the mortgage providers sol's normally try to get the house? northern rock is telling me that taking the house is the last thing they want to do etc and that i should be ok if i dont attend but provide details etc

 

Stressing big time here

Edited June 16, 2009 by sjt
typos

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, I'm at work at the moment - if you can wait till I get home in a couple of hours I will help you with a statement for court which will have to be handed in tomorrow.

 

In the meantime I have affixed the budget sheet we use - please complete that to go with the statement for court. When filling it in remember that the amount you are offering to pay towards the arrears is the amount left over after everything else has been accounted for.

 

Sounds to me like Northern Rock attended the hearing 2 years ago and asked for suspended possession with leave to restore - you wouldn't know that because I bet they told you that you didn't need to attend and that they would cancel the hearing ! So now they are restoring the hearing without having to give you the normal 4 - 6 weeks notice. That's the kind of thing that happens when you don't go to court (or believe them when they say you don't need to attend!).

 

I will need more information later to complete the statement - I should be back on line around 7pm

 

Ell-enn

Budget Sheet.xls

[Ell-enn]

Do you have any paperwork from the possession claim 2 years ago? Did you receive anything from the court at all regarding the hearing which you assumed was cancelled?

[sjt]

hi ell-enn - thanks for the reply - all i had was paperwork to say it was cancelled.

 

Do they ignore the paper work if its not sent i by a deadline, the courts have given me an email address to send to tomorrow but im just worried they wont look at any of it with me not being there.

[Ell-enn]

It's best to take the paperwork in by hand.

 

Where did the letter come from 2 years ago that said the hearing was cancelled? was it NR?

[sjt]

it was sent by the court - i think, and maybe a copy off the sol's and northern rock to - it didnt have any detaisl just that I think it was adjurned. If email them and my partner takes the paper work in - even if they dont let him attend will the judge use the paperwork that has been haded over on the day - statement, means testing forms etc?

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, if you take the statement and budget sheet in to the court tomorrow it will be put with the case notes for the judge to read before the hearing. We can put in the statement why you are unable to attend and that Northern Rock advised you that you didn't need to be there, although I would still stress it would be better if you could be there.

 

I suspect the last hearing 2 years ago was adjourned with liberty to restore (very sneaky by Northern Rock:mad:) thus giving them the option to take you to court at any time without going through the whole process of serving papers etc.

 

Can you answer the following please, so I can start to write your statement:

 

What was the reason for the arrears?

How much can you comfortably offer towards the arrears each month in addition to the normal monthly payment?

How much is your normal monthly payment?

 

Ell

[Crapstone]

sjt,

 

YOU MUST ATTEND otherwise you will run the very real risk of losing your home.

 

You should be able to class your partners contribution as other income if they are paying the bills and living there.

 

It's important that you work out what the true arrears are by adding up just the payments you have missed and not any fees or added costs they have put on to inflate the arrears.

 

Good luck.

[sjt]

Hello Ell-enn, sorry for the delay - things are a little hetic here right now.

 

The reason for the arrears really stem from the interest rates going up last yr coupled with my partner having their contract work stopped. They did find p/t employement in the new yr and i spoke to northern rock and arranged to make full payment plus a small amount towards the arrears (£50pcm) unfortunatly the company my partner worked for turned out to be a fly-by-night marketing company who just vanished and they never got paid so it has taken until now for them to find full time 'proper' employment with the NHS (much better income from now on) so we can afford the paymetn of £599.30 a month - this included B&C's insurance with northern rock and I was thinking of offering £100pcm towards the arrears - currently £9,596.50. This sounds a little small but I would hate to overstrech things incase of the unexpected. Our outgoings leave approx £900 a month for everythign apart from essentials however this is now based on us having reduced every outgoing there was, no telephone, sky TV, no car anymore no mobiles no broadband (im currently using my pay as you go mobile to connect today at the cost of £1 for the whole day - so we have tried to make sure we can make the payments and not miss any arrangements. I guess we have buried our heads in the sand until now as we didnt have a solution to offer northern rock or the courts but now i feel very certain that we can make payments and clear arrears without missing any in the future - i must add that i feel seriously sick at the thought of all this and the last comment on here has made things much worse as i was hoping that even if i didnt attend the paper work (statement and means testing forms) would be all that would be required especially if the likely outcome would be a suspended order makign us accountable straight away if we did miss an further payments.

 

Hope you can help Ell-enn I have completed the means testing form you provided (thank you very much) and will forward this via email to the court and I will deliver a copy tomorrow in person before the court appointment on Thursday - can anyone let me know what if any objections the mortgage companys sol's might have to accepting a susspended order - im just seriously nerve wrecked about the whole thing - made worse because i cannot attend the hearing and worry that they may not even read my statement - im getting so many conflicting bits of advice not only in forums but also from Northern Rock who were quiet convincing about them only wanting the order in place so i will make payments ratherthan trying to take the house which accordingto them is 'the last thing we want to do'.

 

thanks

[Ell-enn]

OK, I'll post the statement on here in a few minutes.

[sjt]

hello again - i meant to ask about the N11M form? I dont have one, need one i guess and my internet access is going to run out at 12 tonight on my mobile. please help

[Ell-enn]

Quick question - Have NR been charging you arrears charges each month for being in arrears? if so, have they been added into the £9k arrears they say you have, or is it made up solely of missed payments?

[sjt]

hello Im not 100% certain I think it might include arrears charges/fees etc however i cant be certain. I have a blank N11M form now - is the budget sheet i got from you before required too as it has the same data on it as the N11M form, or am I better off just giving both over?

[Ell-enn]

Where did you get the N11M? there's no point in filling that in now, you just need a statement and the budget sheet for the judge to make his decision.

 

The statement is affixed, you need to fill in the information at the top where there are XXX's (remove the XXX's) but don't edit the column on the far right with Claimant and Defendant in it. When you print it out make sure your printer is set for A4 paper (not letter size) to ensure it all stays on one page.

 

On the budget sheet, write the claim number on the top right hand corner and Appendix 1 on the top left hand corner.

 

Take a copy for yourself of both sheets and then staple a set to take to the court.

 

Any questions just shout - I'll be on line for the next 10 minutes, then I'll be back on at around 8.30 in the morning if you think of anything at the last minute.

SJT Statement.doc

[sjt]

thank you very much ell-enn, I must admit i was expecting to have to state alot more information and i do tend to waffle a bit too so again multiple thanks. I take it in the claimant box it will be Northern Rock PLC and the court is going to be the full address of the court in newcastle, can i ask, in your experiance, shoudl i be hopeful that this will ok be ok, sorry to be a pain im just very worried (as you can prob guess form previous notes left). once again thank you for all your help

[sjt]

oh and before i forget - if i cant find previous statements that show that some of the arrears are charges then should i delete the line regarding the full breakdown of the arrears and how there might be fees included?

 

cheers

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, you don't need to put the full address of the court, just the name i.e "in the Newcastle county court". I assume you have the claim number?

 

Assume the figure quoted contains arrears charges - it seems high given the amount of your normal monthly payment. No harm in leaving that paragraph in.

 

You only need to state the facts, there is nothing to be gained by giving the judge too much to read - these hearings only take around 5 minutes if both parties attend, less if only one is there (there's usually around 20 - 30 repossession hearings on the sam day!)

 

There is everything the judge needs to know in the statement. I understand your anxiety, it's a very stressful situation to be in, made worse by the fact that you can't attend. However, it would be VERY unusual for the judge to order possession at the first time of asking.

 

I'm sure it will be OK - if Northern Rock have told you that they are going for a suspended possession order then you'll have to assume they're telling the truth.

 

Let us know what the outcome is

[Crapstone]

I'm sorry to have worried you sjt but you should always try to defend a suspended repossession order and not just hope for one as the best outcome.

 

Your partner could and should attend as they have an interest in the property. Usually a notice is sent to the address advising all occupiers of the property of the court action.

 

Even if they do grant a suspended repossession order you can apply for it to be set aside once you gather enough information to show the arrears include charges but all that is for another day. BUT do keep all your copies of any paperwork safe and everything you receive from the courts and the claimant.

 

Good luck (I've been in your shoes so know how difficult it is).

Edited June 17, 2009 by Crapstone

[sjt]

Well by now it should all be decided, according to the courts I wont find out by post for over a week! note - me jumping everytime the door goes! thanks for all the help everyone - will make sure to keep you all informed. esp Ell-enn xxx

[Ell-enn]

Firstly - No need to jump when the door goes! Even in the worst case scenario in that the lender is granted possession it would be a 28 day order at the very earliest (but I'm sure that won't be happening) - so, no-one is going to be visiting you anytime soon!

 

Secondly - Relax until the letter from court arrives - nothing will happen between now and then.

 

Stay positive, it'll be OK