Urgent Help Needed - Eviction out of blue

[sixofspades]

Hi all.

 

I am an occupant in a household consisting of 5 people. I am not the mortgage payer but found myself answering the door to bailiffs this morning (July 22nd 2010) and was served an eviction notice for 3rd August 2010 (addressed to the mortgage payer - my father).

 

It feels like the bottom of the world has just dropped out from under me and I'm quite distressed about this sudden revelation. I'm in need of some advice if anyone can offer it.

 

The mortgage is in the name of both my parents but is the responsibility of my very secretive father. My mother's name is all that she contributes to it and is pretty much kept in the dark by my father (as are the rest of the family). Finding out that he hasn't been paying it for at least the last year, amounting to arrears of approximately £11,000, is a betrayal of trust I am struggling to comprehend. This eviction in less than two weeks leaves myself, my mother, my sister and my 9 year old niece (which breaks my heart) without a home.

 

I'm not all that well versed in how to deal with the situation but so far, my sister and I have taken it upon ourselves to form a safety net should the eviction go ahead by looking into other accommodation for the victims in the family. Obviously we don't want to have to resort to this. I spoke to the solicitor handling the case for the mortgage company (Kensington Mortgage Company Limited) and whilst they have made a reference of me contacting them, hearing our plight, they could not speak to me about any details. Obviously my mother is the best best to speak to them in this circumstance but she is currently unavailable to do so until tomorrow.

 

I should be able to furnish you with some more details once my mother has spoken to the solicitors in question. We're also planning to go see the courts tomorrow to see where we stand. That said, I'm lost as to how to deal with this situation. I need to help stop this eviction from happening for the sake of my family.

 

Can anyone offer any advice on where to proceed from here?

 

Thanks.

 

PS: My apologies for the lack of any great details so far but I'm still quite emotional about this. I'm currently going through lots of letters addressed to my father in order to uncover what's been going on between him and the mortgage company. I hope to have more concrete info tomorrow for those who want to offer advice and may need more info to do so.

[sixofspades]

Well it's early morning and I'm unable to sleep due to worry so I figure I'll update those who may be able to offer advice on the situation.

 

My mother managed to get in touch with Kensington Mortgages last night but broke down meaning my sister has to speak to them on her behalf. We discovered that the last time Kensington had spoken to my father regarding arrears was last year! This is despite my family being told by him that he was paying the mortgage (he is currently insisting that there is a mistake - I don't believe him and nor will the court no doubt).

 

We've explained our situation to Kensington and they have informed us that we need to compile our in-comings and out-goings in order to prove that we can pay the mortgage ASAP which we will be doing today (23rd August). I can't remember the exact figure but the monthly payments for the mortgage are around £650-700 per month. We have no secured loans on the property. Considering my father's, mother's and sister's in-comings and out-goings (I am unemployed and so feel helpless), the monthly payment plus extra to contribute to the arrears is feasible. I am unable to gather exact details on this as we just don't know them yet.

 

Having scoured this forum for advice, I understand that filling out an N244 in the hope of suspending the eviction is something that is probably required. Myself, my mother and my father are heading to the countycourt tomorrow to pursue this but as this is happening so fast, we've yet to organise anything that might be needed other than a handful of paperwork relating to my mother's finances.

 

I'm reaching out to anyone who can offer advice on this matter. We're desperate. Ell-enn, I have been reading your superb track record in helping others on this forum but without wanting to burden you - can you offer any advice? I know I'm a complete stranger to these forums but I feel like my family's life is about to end in less than two weeks time because of the actions of a single, selfish individual known as my father.

Edited July 23, 2010 by sixofspades

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, got your message. You will definitely need to enter an N244 at the court with a statement stating how the arrears are to be repaid. Your father is going to have to be open about this otherwise we're going to have a problem in getting a defence together.

 

We will need to know the reason for the arrears happening - as the judge will expect an explanation.

 

Do both your father and mother work?

[sixofspades]

Thank you for getting back to me Ell-enn. Here is an update on the situation.

 

Myself, my mother, father and my sister went to the countycourts this morning to enquire about any advice regarding the N244. We were unable to obtain much help as the clerk I spoke to was unqualified to do so but were given the form itself (I already have a digital copy of it).

 

I have also been in touch with CAB and have booked an appointment for my parents - one that I will also be attending - this Monday to get some more advice on approaching the courts with an N244 and the situation in general. I really have no clue as to how to fill this form in beyond the basic premise that we're asking for the eviction to be suspended. We will be submitting the N244 on Monday immediately after speaking with CAB.

 

With regards to Kensington, I have spoken with them at length today on behalf of my mother and father. With an advisor, I completed a breakdown of the family's incomes and expenditures (mother and father) in order to ascertain exactly where we stand financially with regards to affordable repayment. I was informed that the mortgage payments are £589.67 per month with arrears of £10,500.

 

Once the expenditures were subtracted from the incomings plus the contributions my sister and her partner will be making (£300 per month), we are left with approximately £1,120 per month to use towards both an arrears repayment and the base mortgage payment. On top of this, I have also mentioned to them that we can make an immediate £1,500 payment (that is to say at least £1,500 - I can increase this personally with a couple hundred more with some small savings) in order to show favour in the hope of Kensington cancelling the eviction warrant.

 

The advisor told me that, financially, we are in a positive position what with that cash injection reducing arrears to at least £9,000. Obviously though, this is merely his opinion and does not reflect on any decision a manager will make. As of right now, I am compiling an written income and expenditure for my mother and father that we can send to Kensington via rec post tomorrow (no fax machine) together with a proposal outlining the repayment plan we have pulled together. The advisor also told me that a decision (once the written proposal is received) could take up to 7 days. Unfortunately, my father needs to obtain bank statements for this proposal as we currently have no documentation relating to his expenditures (just his word). The bank have said they will try to get those statements to us ASAP.

 

 

---------

 

Regarding your questions.

 

Both my mother and father still work full time, as does my sister (part time). Whilst my father has not abandoned us and is actively working with us to stop eviction, he has still not let on as to why the mortgage has not been paid for this amount of time. I cannot honestly say why he is acting like this but following your advice, I'm going to have to be insistent with him.

 

Can you offer any advice on how to pull a defence together. Obviously, myself, niece, sister and mother are victims in all of this but I get the impression the law does not care that we are. Will such a circumstance help the Judge rule in our favour?

 

Any advice you can offer on pulling together a defence and on how to go about drafting a proposal/n244 would leave me eternally grateful. Truly, thank you for hearing my plight, this means so much to me.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, firstly a budget sheet will have to be completed to send in with the N244 and I have affixed the one we generally use for this sort of case.

 

You will then need a written statement for Q.10 of the N244 and I can draft one for you once you are clear about how much you can afford to pay towards the arrears in addition to the normal monthly payment. There is also case law we can use in this statement to ask the judge for time to pay the arrears.

 

Your father is going to have to come clean about how the arrears arose.

 

Does your father live with you?

Budget Sheet.xls

[sixofspades]

Thank you.

 

Yes, my father still lives with us and yes, come hell or high water, the man will be coming clean.

 

I have downloaded the budget sheet you have kindly provided and will get to work on it ASAP alongside everything else detailed in my previous post. Will this budget sheet be usable for both the N244 and the Kensington Proposal?

 

Thank you again.

[Ell-enn]

Yes you can use the budget sheet for both the N244 and Kensington. I can draft you a letter to send to Kensington with the budget sheet.

[sixofspades]

Thank you Ell-enn.

 

I've completed the income and expenditures and the figures aren't quite what they seemed when the mortgage advisor spoke to me. We're coming out with £1009 spare to play with after all deductions each month with a hope to offer Kensington £850 a month.

 

However, the cash injection I spoke of earlier has since increased from £1,500 to £2,500. My sister, my mother and myself have managed to scrape this extra £1000 together to offer to Kensington to immediately reduce the arrears to £8,000.

 

--------

 

I would be in your debt if you could help me draft a letter to Kensington. If it helps, I have been given permission by my mother to provide you with the budget breakdown I have completed to aid you in this. I can email this to you (I would rather not attach it to the forum for reasons of privacy).

 

As I am looking to post this letter to Kensington tomorrow, and without wanting to encroach on your free time, when do you think you could draft this letter by?

 

Thanks again.

[Ell-enn]

You can email the budget sheet to [email protected]. Let me know when you have sent it.

 

I'll post the letter on here shortly.

[Ell-enn]

Hi, letter affixed. You will need to put the amount you are offering to pay towards the arrears (in addition to the normal monthly payment) where I have put XXX's. You should send the letter and budget sheet by special delivery and keep a copy of it all. Also, check on the royalmail website in a few days to print off the signature receipt, staple it to your copy of the letter and budget sheet - it will form part of your defence with the N244.

Sixofspades letter.doc

[sixofspades]

Thanks again.

 

I have emailed you the budget form.

 

Thank you so much for drafting the letter. We are planning to send the proposal off tomorrow before the 1am post. I will make sure I obtain proof of delivery/receipt as instructed.

 

Will we be require to send supporting documentation to back up the budget sheet at this time? The only thing we are missing is bank statements for my father but we are looking to have those from the bank tomorrow. Obviously I will be sending copies of them rather than originals (should they need to be sent). My question is though - if we cannot obtain those bank statements tomorrow, should we still forward the proposal and simply advise Kensington that my father's bank statements will follow as soon as we obtain them?

Edited July 23, 2010 by sixofspades

[Ell-enn]

Do not send Kensington bank statements !!! you are under no obligation to do so and it would not help to let them see how your father has been conducting his finances. Just send the letter and the budget sheet. I have included in the letter your ability to make a £2,500 immediate payment - is that correct?

 

I have seen the budget sheet and replied to your email with a few suggestions.

 

You will need to enter an N244 at court next Tuesday at the latest in order to get a hearing before the eviction date, so you need to ring Kensington on Monday afternoon to check they have your letter and get a decision from them as to whether they will cancel the eviction. You should be prepared to make the £2,500 payment over the phone at that time.

 

Ell

[sixofspades]

The £2,500 payment is correct and can be made on Monday.

 

Kensington requested that in order for my sister and her partner to contribute, they will need to put it in writing. I have drafted two letters (one for each contributor). Should I include these signed letters with the proposal?

 

As I mentioned earlier, we have an appointment with CAB to help us fill the N244 and enter it at the countycourts on Monday. Before that occurs, is there any advice you can offer on completing the N244?

 

For example, I believe the form asks for things such as the type of judge that will be required and hearing time - I'm at a loss as to what to requestion for such questions.

[letsdothis]

Hi

 

With Ell-enns help you will be fine.

 

Ell-enn does a wicked N244 and statement, her track record is very good. You would only lose your house (from her past experience) if the Judge does not think there is any real prospect of you meeting the monthly payment plus a chunk off the arrears each month.

 

Remember as well there is case law to allow you pay the arrears over the remaining length of the mortgage, so if paying it off at £800 a month just to satisfy the OC is going to leave you short, then using your expenditure sheet, you can increase or decrease spending to make it less etc if you catch my drift.

 

When we were in front of the judge, my budget sheet showed I had £520 odd left after paying all the bills. The Judge ruled I only had to pay £200 a month over a longer term, which in reality was an excellent choice, because a few weeks after the OC put my mortgage up by £105 a month.

 

So if I had only £520 a month spare, and had been made to give £500 of that to the OC, after the mortgage increase, I had no realistic way of paying the new amount.

 

Be realistic, listen to the advice and you will keep your house.

[sixofspades]

Thank you for you input Letsdothis - there has been a bit of a development this past half hour thanks to the eagle eyes of Ell-enn. That £850 we have budgeted towards the arrears is a mistake on my part.

 

The mistake is that I have accidentally duplicated the flat mortgage payment on the budget sheet. I accounted for it in the expenditures and then accounted for it in the mortgage arrears.

 

With Ell-enn spotting this, I can now reduce that £850 assigned to the arrears to £500 (maybe less if you think that is advisable Ell-enn) and merge the remainder into our expenditures!

 

Ell-enn - you are an absolute superstar.

[Ell-enn]

We can do the N244 over the weekend, I will give you the instructions for filling in the form and an also write you a statement for Q.10 of the form (the most important part) you can then run it past the CAB if you want, or just take it straight to the court.

 

Can you email me what you are saying in the letters you are writing for your sister and partner?

[sixofspades]

I will email you a copy of the letter right now. If you can provide an alternative letter, that would be fantastic as I'm not confident of my own.

[sixofspades]

Morning Ell-enn

 

Having slept on al that has happened yesterday, I think it best if we offer Kensington £300 per month towards the arrears in the proposal. Do you think think this amount will be good?

 

We are trying to be as careful as we can in the event of the mortgage rising in the future and to also safeguard me, my mother, sister and niece from relying on my father's spare money. I have told him this morning (he is out of the house) to come home so he can come clean but I'm really starting to worry.

 

Also, how fast can you get back to me regarding the contribution letter I emailed to you? As my family will be posting the proposal today to catch the 1pm post, we need any advice you might have as soon as you are able to provide it.

 

Thank you again. I hope my family can pull through this.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, when calculating the budget sheet you need to ensure that the amount you are offering Kensington is the amount left over after everything else has been accounted for. If that means building in a little "safety net" money into other areas of your household expediture then so be it.

[Rachie1973]

With Kensington no-one can ever tell how they'll quite react. Hopefully it'll be in a positive way on this occasion.

 

With regards to your Father, whilst I appreciate that you all rely on his honesty and money to provide you with a roof over your heads, perhaps a little bit of sensitivity and understanding might not go amiss.

 

You say yourself you're unemployed and it would appear that he's very supportive of you. Its time to repay that support. I think it would probably be far more persuasive than recriminations at this point.

[sixofspades]

I will be speaking to him today as he has told me we will get an explanation. There is no animosity in the situation as it isn't in any way productive and we are being very understanding whatever issue he has. However, I do want the judge made aware that we knew nothing of this mortgage trouble until this week.

 

With regards to my unemployment, my word yes a job is on the cards ASAP. I simply can't afford to be unemployed in this situation (I am an ex-student). Anything I can get, full time preferably, is my goal right now. I'm not putting it off. Going off a minimum wage in full time employment, I'd be able to add at least another £300 onto the monthly arrears payments as my personal expenditures are next to nothing (I've always been very financially careful unlike my father)

 

I really appreciate all the advice anyone can offer. Thank you.

 

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Ell-enn, would you have time to take another glance at my budget sheet?

 

We've bought ourselves some extra time now that we have discovered we don't have to include bank statements/payslips alongside the proposal. We will be able to fax it first thing Monday morning at the local library rather than trying to post in before 12pm today.

 

As it stands, we've generously absorbed a lot of the leftover money back into the expenditures and credit debts (and budgeting £300 per month for the Kensington arrears). The cash remaining per month after all deductions is £55

[Ell-enn]

Hi, I understand the family wanting the judge to know that they were unaware of the arrears situation - however only your mother and father will be able to attend the hearing as it is they who have the responsibility for the mortgage.

 

The hearing will only take between 5 and 10 minutes and the judge will only look at the feasibility of the arrears being paid over a reasonable time - if you can show that then you will be OK.

 

Have you sent the budget sheet? - I have to go out shortly, but will take a look if you send it now.

[sixofspades]

I have just sent the amended budget sheet.

 

Is there no possibility that I can attend the hearing with my parents? Kensington are sending out a letter for me to sign that allows me to speak on their behalf regarding the mortgage - would the judge consider that a valid reason for me to attend?

 

Also, will we require bank statements etc when attending the court hearing?

 

And lastly, if Kensington accept the proposal and cancel the eviction, my mother would like to know if that means we still need to go through a court hearing.

Edited July 24, 2010 by sixofspades

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, yes you can attend with your parents, you would need to tell the court usher when you arrive at court that you wish to go into the hearing with them and show them the letter from Kensington.

 

If Kensington accept your proposal and cancel the eviction you will not need to attend a hearing. However, knowing them as I do - they will not give you an answer straight away, so you will still need to put the N244 form into court in case you do need to go to a hearing. If you wait for their answer it may be difficult to get a hearing at your local court before the eviction date.

 

I've seen the budget sheet and replied it looks ok now.

 

I'll be back on line later today/evening and hopefully you will have more info for the N244.

 

Ell

[sixofspades]

Hi Ell-enn

 

I have spoken to my father and he has come clean. We now know why he defaulted on the mortgage payments and he now fully on board, being open and honest. I will provide you with these details later today via email so we can start pulling together the N244.

 

I also have a few more questions regarding mortgage payments dates that I will go into more detail via email.

 

It basically involves my fear that we will hand over £2,500 to Kensington towards arrears on Monday and (should they accept the proposal) they will then demand regular monthly payment to cover the mortgage+arrears starting 1st August (my father says that is when they usually take payments but we hope to negotiate with them to change this date the end of every month as that is when the family gets paid). We can't afford that should it happen.

 

I will be in touch later tonight. Take care.

Edited July 24, 2010 by sixofspades