quick question about repo proceedings

[colinsunderland]

ok, a friend of mine has been struggling to pay her mortgage, not major problems until this year though.

 

She's now got a court date for 7th June for a repo hearing, arrears of around £1800 stated on the forms.

 

The house is on the market, and theres plenty of equity in it (over £60k)

 

I've offered to lend/give her the £1800 to pay the arrears off, but what I can't find out is, if she pays the arrears will that automatically stop the proceedings or will she still have to go to court and prove she can make the monthly payments etc?

 

She was trying to sort a plan out at the start of the year but they pretty much refused everything she offered so (stupidly in my view) she just stopped paying, so no payments haven't been made since Dec 09, which presumably a judge won't look very favourably on?

 

I don't particulary want to just give her the money then her have to hand the keys in in a months time, but don't have a problem if it stops the hearing going ahead

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[fettes5]

Hi,

I am in a similar position to that of ur friend.Let me tell u what i would do if i were you/her. First of all,if u really are in a position to help her out with the arrears then do it and do it now! Pay off the arrears "before" the hearing date and make sure u get a receipt from the mortgage company. As far as automatically stopping the repo is concerned, i would bet my life that it would stop the eviction dead in it's tracks no matter what the mortgage company want to have happen. U will find the court to be very sympathetic to her cause and will help her but only if she tells the truth "Always" and doesn't falter on any payment plan they may decide to order. Don't be afraid of the fact that there is going to be a hearing. In some ways it's better because it takes the decision on any repo away from the lender and gives it to the judge and the last thing he wants is to take someones home away from them. A word of warning regarding fees and charges; You will find that the lender has probably slapped a dose of charges onto the mortgage account. They are hard at it when this happens .Ask the judge to negate these ridiculous charges,in fact ask the lender to negate them BEFORE u pay off her arrears.If they are genuinely interested in helping her keep her property they will have no problem in negating those scandalous charges.If they refuse,pay off the arrears but include an accompanying letter detailing that the arrears are being paid "With reservations". Also,without being asked to, start payments to the mortgage company every week,even if it's not the full amount pay something,anything. Last but not least,even if she does win a stay of execution,what is her long term plans? If she really cannot afford the mortgage would she not be better selling up and getting either a council/HA flat or a private rental until she gets her finances in order.It seems to me that

she might be better doing a strategic retreat so to speak, get her finances in order and then come back at them again for another mortgage when she can safely afford it next time. Meanwhile,tell her to protect what money she gets from the sale of the property (if she does decide to sell it) and be very careful with what liquid capital she has surplus.

I hope this answer has been of some sort of help.

Regards,

Derek Donaldson

[Ell-enn]

If this court hearing is for repossession and and not in defence of an eviction notice, then paying the arrears is the way to deal with this. If there are no arrears there can be no repossession. Pay the arrears over the phone by card and then print out a bank statement showing the transaction.

 

If the lender doesn't cancel the hearing you will need to take the receipt and a statement along to the hearing - the judge will not be impressed if the lender hasn't cancelled when the arrears have been paid.

[colinsunderland]

excellent, thanks very much

[colinsunderland]

Hi all

 

ok, I don't want to go into too many details here in case the company involved is reading, and I'm not sure of the implications of it all yet.

 

First thing - I'm due in court in a couple of weeks for repossession. I have agreed with the building society to pay around a third of the arrears, then monthly payment + £25 every month. In return, I still have to go to court, but they will only apply for a suspended order. I do have this in writing but at the end they say 'in addition any proposals agreed will need to be put forward to the DJ and will need to be supported by a possession order, suspended on such terms at a Hearing'.

Presumably the judge will agree with that without any hassle? I haven't sent a defence in, should I still do that even though we both agree to get a suspended order?

 

Anyway, onto the 2nd thing.

 

I got their witness statemnt today along with some documents they are using to support their claim to possession.

 

The mortgage deed does not have my name on, nor the address of the property, and my signature is forged. In fact this was obviously done by the solicitor as the handwriting is exactly the same as the witness who's address is the solicitors. I know for a fact I have never seen this form before and I never met the solicitor let alone signed anything in front of a witness there.

 

To me more clear, top of the form

 

it starts

 

MORTGAGE DEED dated (date is here)

and made between

1. THE BORROWER: (this is blank)

2. the lender (this is correct

 

The Advance : Correct amount here

 

THE PROPERTY: (blank)

County & District : Correct

Title Number : Thats here

 

The at the bottom

 

SIGNED AS A DEED

 

Signature of borrower

My name, but definately not my handwriting or signature. However the writing is idential to that of the witness in the next box who was an employee of the solicitor.

 

What, if any, are the implications of this?

My mam was a conveyancer for 20+ years and she says my name and property address should definately be on, and theres no way in the world they would ever have even considered signing a clients name on this deed.But she hasn't got a clue what the implications are or what, if anything, I should do.

 

Anyone got any comments?

 

Many thanks in advance

[Ell-enn]

I think you should get a solicitor to look at this as it's an unusual situation that needs careful handling.

 

Most law firms offer a free initial consultation and you wold be able to get advice on the validity of the mortgage deed and what to do about it.

 

Look in your local newspaper or yellow pages for a solicitor advertising a free advice session.

[colinsunderland]

Thanks Ell-enn, thats what I thought too, what I didn't want to do was bring it to anyones attention then lose the house as it wasn't a valid deed or because of the forgery.

 

Presumably i could argue against repo in court saying they don't have a valid deed, but then I thought they could probably counter and say they want the whole amount back lol.

 

Have you ever seen anything similar?

 

Any advice on the top part about the actual hearing please?

[Ell-enn]

You can take a statement and a copy of the letter from the lender agreeing to your proposal to pay the arrears. Did you get a defence pack from the court? I think it's an N11M form?

[colinsunderland]

yes i did - do i need to complete it?

[Ell-enn]

Yes, I can help you with the form and a statement to go with it, but you don't need to do it yet. You can take it to the court a week before the hearing, and we need to wait and see what advice you get about the mortgage deed.

[colinsunderland]

therein alies the problem, court date is 7th June, so only about 10 days away and theres no way I'll have an appt by then with it being a bank hol

[Ell-enn]

You should be able to get an appointment early next week. We can do the form and a statement in the meantime ready to take to the court on Tuesday, if you get advice from a solicitor before the court date you can take an up to date statement with you on the day of the hearing.

[colinsunderland]

Sorry for the delay in replying

would appreciate any help you can offer in filling in the defence if possible

thanks very much for your help so far

[Ell-enn]

Have you got an appointment with a solicitor yet?

[colinsunderland]

no, i'm finding it very hard to find one who deals with repossessions, or who would be willing to advise on the deed. I've tried about 11 so far and no joy and running out of ones to try!

I did speak to the land registry about my name missing and they said the bs has two options, either restart the mortgage, or try and get the deed changed under rule 130, that allows for minor mistakes to be changed. However she did say rule 130 is usually used for things like names spelt wrong, and wasn't sure if adding a name would be allowed.

However I'll also add I'm not sure if she was entirely sure about what she was saying, especially about restarting the mortgage, so still no further forward

[Ell-enn]

IK, I'll draft a statement for you to take into the court this week. You will need to affix a budget sheet to the statement showing how you are able to make the extra payments each month (I have affixed one to this post). Remember, the extra amount you are offering to pay towards the arrears, is the amount left over after everything else has been accounted for.

 

You said in your first post that you agreed to pay a lump sum towards the arrears - have you done this yet? if so when?

 

Is the mortgage in joint names and do you have any children living with you?

 

What was the reason for the arrears occuring and have you had any previous payments arrangements with them where you missed payments?

Budget Sheet.xls

[Ell-enn]

Can you get proof of the payments you have made this evening? print off from internet banking?

[colinsunderland]

in a day or two when it shows properly on the statement rather than just a lowering of the available balance

[letsdothis]

If it helps I printed off a statement off t'internet showing the cleared and the authorised balances last week.

 

I just circled the differences and showed that the difference was what the OC had taken. The court accepted it no worries.

 

You are in good hands now, with Ell-enn. :grin:

[Ell-enn]

OK, affixed is the statement you need to take to the court tomorrow.

 

You need to put in the info where there are XXX's at the top (the info will be on the court papers). When you print off the statement make sure your printer is set for A4 paper (not Letter size), sign the statement.

 

On the letter you received from the lender accepting the payment proposal- write the claim number on the top left hand corner and Appendix 1 on the top right hand corner.

 

Do the same on the budget sheet, except it will be Appendix 2. (have you completed that yet?)

 

Assemble as follows:

 

Statement - signed

Letter from lender - Appendix 1

Budget Sheet - Appendix 2.

 

This forms the pack to take to court.

 

Now you need to take a photocopy of it all so you have a set to refer to in the hearing. Staple each set securely.

 

We can do another statement to take with you to the hearing to hand to the judge, with the receipt for the payments you made today and also pointing out the fact that the deed is faulty (we'll keep that up our sleeve until the day of the hearing so the other side don't have a chance to make any "changes").

Colin Sunderland Statement.doc

[colinsunderland]

thanks very much, all handed into the court, will update you on monday

[Ell-enn]

Did you only take it in to the court today? Are you intending to take another statement to the hearing regarding the deed?

[colinsunderland]

no, took it in weds, just not been able to get online, sorry

 

Not sure about the deed, if they don't try for possession I'm pretty happy. I'm still not sure what to do regarding the deed, from what I can see I can get the charge released from the property (good tool if they do try for possession!) but that could also open up a can of worms, any thoughts?

[Ell-enn]

It's just my opinion but I think you need to secure the roof over your head before tackling anything else. As you say - if they do go for possession (very unlikely as they have confirmed in writing that they won't) you've got the issue of the deed up your sleeve.

[colinsunderland]

yes thats what I thought too, thanks.

 

What I was thinking, should I mention this to the judge, maybe try to get no costs awarded?

 

In March I offered £157 (normal monthly payment) + £25 extra each month, so total of £182 a month, this offer was refused.

By now I would have paid March, April and May and Junes payment would be due tomorrow.

So that would be £182 * 4 = £728 they would have had by now.

My offer that was accepted last week was £500 upfront then £157+25 = 182 every month from June, so they have had £682.00

So they have had less now than they would have if they had accepted my offer 3 months ago. Obviously they wouldn't have been able to charge £400 solicitor fees if they had accepted that offer!

 

Any thoughts on that?