Urgent Advice Needed Regarding Repossession

[Banking on change]

Hi All

 

We are facing a horrid time with the Bank of Ireland Litigation team and are in urgent need of some help to set aside a repossession judgment.

 

As time is of the essence I won't go into all the issues we have with how we are being treated by this Bank here (but will return to explain more later)

 

Basically we have a very small portfolio of properties which is instead of a pension. So my wife and I are trying desperately to hold on to them as you can imagine. We have an adopted child with some special needs and financially we are struggling.

 

The Bank of Ireland hold two of our mortgages and have instructed TLT Solicitors.

 

Yesterday I successfully defended a repossession application on the basis that the Bank served the paper work to the wrong address. The judge agreed that as the Bank had written to us at our current address they had incorrectly served by sending papers to our previous address which the Bank claim is the only address they have on their computer.

 

The judge ordered them to re-serve at the correct address and awarded us costs of £100.

 

I now find that they have served again at our previous address for another of our properties and it has already gone to court. As I didn't know I obviously did not turn up for the hearing.

 

The hearing was on May 10th.

We have a tenant moving in this Friday.

 

I urgently need to apply to have the judgement set aside but I don't want to make any mistakes.

We cant afford a solicitor. Although the Judge in yesterday's case, in awarding us costs commented to the plaintiffs representative on his objection, "You're lucky it's only £100, it would have been considerably more if they had instructed representation."

 

What do I need to do?

 

Can I mention our case from yesterday as a president?

 

I did not take any evidence of my earnings to court so the judge couldn't award anything for this but could I include evidence of my income in this application and request compensation for my time defending this.

 

So to be clear our position is the Bank were fully aware of our postal address as they have written to us at the address prior to serving this repossession notice. We have also been talking to them and their solicitors for several months and no one mentioned this action. They have served at the wrong address.

 

Please help us asap as we really don't want to lose our property.

 

Man thanks to you all. We are so grateful for this forum!!

Edited May 17, 2012 by Banking on change
spelling

[ims21]

Thread moved to Repo forum

[citizenB]

Have sent an S.O.S out for you, it is more likely to be later this evening when someone will be able to help.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, I can help you with an application to defend possession - but it will have to be later today as I am a bit tied up at work. Do you have a copy of the judgement order for possession? it is a forthwith possession or 28 days?

[Banking on change]

CitizenB thank you for such a quick response

 

We really appreciate it

[Banking on change]

Hi there, I can help you with an application to defend possession - but it will have to be later today as I am a bit tied up at work. Do you have a copy of the judgement order for possession? it is a forthwith possession or 28 days?

 

Hi

 

Thank you so much for you reply.

 

In answer to your question I don't know what kind of Judgment it is as I only found out about the hearing in a phone call yesterday.

I am going to the property today to see if there is any mail.

 

I haven't heard of a forthwith possession. Does that mean they get our property immediately and it could therefore already have been repossessed?

 

I'm so worried about this and it seems so unfair that they can take this action. They have refused on the phone to send the correspondence to our actual address (both the bank and their solicitor) unless we provide written confirmation that it is our address, even though they have already previously written to us at our current address in response to our previous communications.

 

I really don't understand their position to be honest??

 

Thanks again I will post later today once I have visited our property (with all my fingers crossed)!

Edited May 17, 2012 by Banking on change
spelling and grammar

[Banking on change]

Thread moved to Repo forum

 

Hi sorry for incorrect post, just so very desperate due to time and didn't know what to do to get help asap.

 

Is the move just virtual or should I actually go to some other page now to continue posting?

 

Thanks

[citizenB]

Hi sorry for incorrect post, just so very desperate due to time and didn't know what to do to get help asap.

 

Is the move just virtual or should I actually go to some other page now to continue posting?

 

Thanks

 

 

Hi it is purely an administrative move - you dont have to do anything

 

Ellen will be able to advise later on today... so hold in there for a little longer.

 

The more information you are able to provide the less toing and froing and the quicker we can move things forward for you.

[Banking on change]

Hi

 

Okay I went to the property today and there was nothing from the court. I guess it may not have been processed yet.

 

There was however, the original paperwork from the bank's Solicitors informing us of the repossession hearing on May 10th.

I'm obviously concerned that if there is any issue that prevents the court paperwork arriving we can't appeal as we wont have any judgement to appeal against.

 

If the case was on the 10th shouldn't paperwork have arrived yet?

 

Whats our next move?

 

Thanks.

[Ell-enn]

It sometimes takes a week or so for the judgement to be sent out from the court after the hearing. Ring the court in the morning - tell them you didn't receive the paperwork at the correct address and ask what the judge ordered. If you can call in at the court and show them the papers you found today that would be better. Once we know the result of the hearing we can get an application in for a hearing to stop enforcement of the judgement.

[Lea_HTH]

If you want to set aside the PO, as you indicated in your first post, then you need to act quickly and put in an application to do so. You only have 14 days from the order to apply to set it aside, and you're half way through that already.

 

If, on the other hand, you actually want to know how to stay an eviction, then there's no rush.

 

The paperwork that the solicitor sent should have a case number on it relating to the court - tell the court office this number and they will be able to find the paperwork much easier than just by names. Ask them for a copy of the claim form and the particulars of claim - unless this was already included in the pack from the solicitor.

 

The case number is really all you need to make a set aside application as the court will find the file and know the detail from that - in other words, you don't need a copy of the judgment to make a set aside application.

[Banking on change]

Thanks Lea

 

This is all new to us so I'm not sure what the best course of action is. We don't want to lose our properties as they are our pensions. And we have an obligation to our tenant who is moving in tomorrow so we need to ensure they are not hassled or in any way inconvenienced.

 

Spoke to the Banks solicitors today.

 

They have told me that a 28 day possession order was granted and that they are due to talk to the bank again on June the 8th.

They said there will be no further action until then so we can still come to an arrangement.

 

My thoughts are:

1. Are they being honest and that nothing will be done before this date?

2. If on the 8th the bank decided to just repossess how quickly can they do it given there will be a new tenant in the property from tomorrow?

3. Is it worth fighting the 28 day order even though they got it without proper service when they are lightly to get it anyway or should we just make an offer and hope they accept it?

 

 

Our finances are not great and just when we thought we could afford to make offers on all our properties we received a letter from the bank of Ireland today increasing one of our mortgages from £301 to £465!

They really know how to kick you when you're down don't they?

 

Just out of interest if the property was repossessed does the fact that they filed at the wrong address not count for anything?

 

I said in my first post I'd provide more detail so here goes.

 

We are a vulnerable family. We have an adopted child who has special needs. In March 2011 our child suffered an awful experience at school and we were forced to withdraw her. I don't want to go into too much detail about the school issue as it could identify us to people we know. I ended up on medication for depression and was signed off work for almost a year (I've just started working again). On top of all that we had a tenant not pay rent for a year (-£7,150) and I wasn't able to fight it. So you can imagine to say we are in a financial mess is an understatement. We are doing our best to get back on our feet but with fees and charges being added to just about everything it's one step forward and two back.

 

I was in court two days ago in London with the same bank and the same firm of Solicitors. The Judge ruled in our favour as we can prove that they know our address and have written to us at it more than once.

 

They are being so unreasonable claiming we haven't changed it in writing according to their procedures so that is why they haven't amended their computer systems. It's causing me considerable stress at a time when I'm trying to recover.

 

Should I use this recent case in my set aside request?

 

Thanks again to you all

[Lea_HTH]

My view would be that you could apply to set aside the PO on the basis that there was no service. You'd achieve the set aside, most likely, but dependent on the level of arrears, all this will be is a mere delay whilst the bank re-issue the paperwork to the correct address.

 

If you have a realistic proposal for repayment of the arrears, then I'd suggest you make that offer to them, in writing and request a response in writing. In the interim you make the set aside application. If you receive their response before the hearing and it is negative, then you can produce that letter in court when/if they decide to re-issue proceedings.

 

If you get the PO set aside, it may be possible to ask the judge, if your offer of repayment is reasonable, and there is equity in the property, to adjourn on terms.

 

I would suggest in your set aside application that you request the judge order the bank to remove any charges associated with the PO hearing to be removed from your account/the security. This is because they ought not to be entitled to their costs when they failed to act appropriately in the service of paperwork. They have done this previously, so whilst a previous county court judgment cannot count as precedent, it is evidence against the bank that they continue to do things incorrectly.

 

Your personal circumstances are irrelevant in respect of the properties that you do not live in, so don't try to dwell too heavily on those - though referring to the fact that you lost a year's rental due to a lousy tenant is relevant.

[Banking on change]

Thank you Lea

 

Most grateful for your advice.

[Banking on change]

Okay, just had a visit by NCI man (sounds like American police series)

He was very rude and very assumptive of our situation.

 

I could do with some definitive guidance on this as I don't know exactly what our rights are.

 

The way it's been framed is that the mortgage company have written to us giving us no choice,

it's either agree to meet this guy or they will proceed with repossession of our property (we have small portfolio of rental properties).

 

I thought that this kind of threatening tactic would be illegal but both our mortgage providers have taken this route. One of them making us pay for the "privilege" and the other stating they will pay if we meet the person but they will charge our account if we don't. Again very threatening.

 

So we made an appointment to meet this guy from NCI and my wife called him today to tell him that it will be me who he will be meeting with on her behalf. He refused to meet me and has now sent a text stating he will only speak with my wife. Again I thought she had the right to appoint any third party to negotiate on her behalf.

 

Any one know the deal here?

 

thanks

[i hate bailiffs]

You do not need to speak to them deal with mortgage company in writing if need be

[dx100uk]

and get reclaiming any 'visit' fees to

they along with ANY arrears fees

management fees

letter fees

 

etc etc are ALL UNLAWFUL

and can be reclaimed.

 

dx

[Banking on change]

Hold on

 

are you saying the £40 per month that they are charging us,

which they justify as a fee due to us not having an "arrangement" in place, is illegal?

 

They have always claimed that they can charge this while there is no agreed arrangement to clear the arrears.

 

Our problem is our finances are up and down (both self-employed)

and we've had some tenants from hell (lost in excess of 15K)

so it's difficult to make arrangements on 5 properties with so much volatility in our income.

 

We have argued that we could make an agreement this month

and then need to rearrange it next month, which seems pointless.

Or break it which they then use against you.

I think they call it a broken promise or something like that.

 

To be fair we have missed one payment recently and haven't called the mortgage company

but in our defense we are sick of being treated as though we're criminals every time we call.

 

We normally call every month to make the normal payment plus a contribution towards the arrears

and every time without fail they want to know the full history,

why are you in arrears,

why this,

why that.

 

They assume that we are living some kind of life of luxury on the rental income

which is a joke when you're driving a 20 year old car!

 

Okay so what about their threat to take legal action if we refuse to meet with NCI?

 

I guess they could repossess without needing to state that as the reason.

 

They could just say we are in arrears by x so they want the property back.

 

If we do meet this guy what is the down side?

[dx100uk]

meeting that guy is simply a money making exercise.

 

as for arrears fees and ANY OTHER FEES

 

they are UNLAWFUL.

 

have a read of the info below [same applies to any mortgage company]

 

i

Just to let you know

.

this bunch Kensington have been fined £1.225m by the financial regulator

.

for treating borrowers who were in arrears unfairly.

.

Claim those charges back plus the interest

.

and tell them not to add any more to the account.

.

There are a few news stories here you can get the info for a letter to send to them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8615870.stm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...y-the-FSA.html

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/library/commun...2010/065.shtml

 

 

and WHO is your mortgage company doing this to you please....

 

dx

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010...mortgages-fine

[Banking on change]

Thank you so much DX

 

The companies are:

 

Mortgage Express (they paid the fee for adviser)

Bank of Ireland (charging us for adviser or will take legal action)

Birmingham Midshires - They have not sent adviser but have added interest which I'm pretty sure they they say was awarded by a court

[dx100uk]

so this is linking to your old BoI repo thread a few years back?

 

dx

[Banking on change]

so this is linking to your old BoI repo thread a few years back?

 

dx

 

Yes

 

Back then they refused to update our address over the phone and sent all paperwork to the wrong address.

 

I went to court and won with costs too : )

 

We've struggled with our properties since 2008 when the bubble burst

(got stuck with a property were intended to sell after refurb).

 

Just run of bad luck really with difficult tenants and void periods etc.

 

To add insult to injury though BOI did a % increase taking our payments from just over £300 to almost £530.

 

They kindly did the hike over two consecutive months to ease us in gently

 

So yep we've just had to struggle on as the property is also in negative equity.

 

Paid £170k and they currently sell for £120K.

 

I did ask BOI some time ago if they could help by moving us to another product but they aren't interested in helping.

 

As I said often when we call we are treated with contempt

so it hardly warms the heart when the end of the month draws near but there's no way out!

[dx100uk]

ok I've merged the thread for sake of history.

 

I think we need Lee & el-enn to comment too

on these developments.

 

dx

[Banking on change]

Thanks DX