Is there anything you can do after repossession?

[SBucks]

Hi,

I've jus found out that my best friends house was repossessed yesterday.

 

I'm still waiting to get to the bottom of the issue but the following is what I know:

Mortgage is with Skipptons

He has missed the last 4 consecutive payments

He had missed payments before and caught up

He has missed payments, been to court and was grated a stay order if he payed a set amount which he did

His mortgage payments were £600 but after the court stay order they increased them to £800 (not sure why yet)

He had plenty of notice that this was going to happen but dug his head in the sand, didn't ask for help, didn't speak to the Mortgage company and tried to resolve his issues with beer

He is currently unemployed (own farming business recently failed)

He has just got divorced but has joint custody of his 18 month old daughter for 3 days/2 nights per week

All of his possessions are still in his house and there is a notice on the door saying he has 7 days from yesterday to contact them to arrange removal of his possessions

Council have said there is nothing they can do for him as the child care allowance for his daughter is not in his name

 

 

Couple of key questions:

If he grants me authority to speak to his mortgage company do you think there is any hope of getting him back in his house if I pay the outstanding arrears?

Has anyone ever managed to get back in their home after the house has been repossessed?

 

I'm pretty savvy with financial matters but this is an area that I really don't know much about (and I hope that I never have to learn for myself! - off to touch some wood).

 

Any suggestions or ideas would be very much appreciated!

 

Thanks

M

[Lea_HTH]

You're a nice friend - it's a shame he didn't approach you for help beforehand. Maybe if he gets into difficulties in the future he will know where to turn straight away.

 

Yes, if you clear the arrears in total, he stands a good chance of getting back into the house. This is a negotiation that has to take place with the mortgagee though, it is not a court issue. Courts have very limited powers to allow people back into their houses once possession has taken place (limited, not none at all). So your first step would be to get him to give the mortgagee permission to discuss his account with you (if you are going to do it on the phone, it is best if he is present, speaks to them first, tells them that he wants them to discuss it with you, and then hands the phone over). You will need to prove/show where you got the money from, and show how he is going to manage to pay going forward (you said he is unemployed - if he hasn't already done so he'll need to claim statutory mortgage interest from the DWP - and perhaps ask the mortgagee to change the mortgage from repayment to interest only if it isn't on IO already). They will make a decision based on the information you give them. Most of the time they are often willing to give the mortgagor another chance as all they really want is their money. You may find that the arrears are higher than your friend told you - if so, and you can't afford to repay all of it, then even a 50% reduction should allow them to consider the offer, with the current instalment plus something towards the arrears thereafter to clear them as quickly as possible - at this stage they do not have to consider the case law that the courts have to consider which would mean that the arrears could be paid off over the remaining term of the loan.

 

Do that, and if it's not successful come back and post up what they said.

[SBucks]

Thank you for your reply.

 

Here is an update on the situation:

We have spoken to the mortgage company and they were adamant that they would not give the property back even if the arrears were paid.

 

I spoke to three people regarding this decision the final one being a senior manager who eventually said that it could be done if certain criteria was met (I explained that without the house my friend has nothing to lose by going bankrupt, while this did not phase the lady on the phone I further explained that the property is in negative equity to at least £35,000 so do think carefully before being inflexible!)

 

Terms of possession:

£7000 areas paid

Proof of employment (signed contract)

Permission to contact new employer

Mortgage to increase to cover costs

 

Following this I then took the unpleasant task of informing his parents to let them know what had happened (they put the deposit down for the house) and further explain his predicament including all other know debts (Circa. £30K).

 

While myself and his parents are/were prepared to cover the arrears and I could sort the employment issue out we made the decision that the house was not worth saving due to the negative equity aspect. We had a valuation done by the people who sold the house to my friend (it was a new build) and they came back with £130K Vs the £152K he bought it for.

 

Our next move is to get his property out of the flat and get him a job. We will then go through the process of making him bankrupt and once he is on his feet again he can make the decision on whether he honours his moral obligation to replay certain debt.

 

Question:

The agents dealing with his flat/repossession have given us until the 1st Dec to arrange a time to get his possessions back (they "had no one free to assist" us entry last week) - However they have stated that no one is allowed inside the property or on the drive way and we are to provide a list of what he wants to remove and they will remove it.

We want EVERYTHING out of there, do we have this right?

 

If so can anyone advise us what statue we should reference?

 

Many thanks

Mark

 

PS. On a positive note, my friend is now on day 6 of being 'dry' and is attending AA meetings every evening.

[Lea_HTH]

Thank you for your reply.

 

Here is an update on the situation:

We have spoken to the mortgage company and they were adamant that they would not give the property back even if the arrears were paid.

 

I spoke to three people regarding this decision the final one being a senior manager who eventually said that it could be done if certain criteria was met (I explained that without the house my friend has nothing to lose by going bankrupt, while this did not phase the lady on the phone I further explained that the property is in negative equity to at least £35,000 so do think carefully before being inflexible!)

 

Terms of possession:

£7000 areas paid

Proof of employment (signed contract)

Permission to contact new employer

Mortgage to increase to cover costs

 

Following this I then took the unpleasant task of informing his parents to let them know what had happened (they put the deposit down for the house) and further explain his predicament including all other know debts (Circa. £30K).

 

While myself and his parents are/were prepared to cover the arrears and I could sort the employment issue out we made the decision that the house was not worth saving due to the negative equity aspect. We had a valuation done by the people who sold the house to my friend (it was a new build) and they came back with £130K Vs the £152K he bought it for.

 

Our next move is to get his property out of the flat and get him a job. We will then go through the process of making him bankrupt and once he is on his feet again he can make the decision on whether he honours his moral obligation to replay certain debt.

 

Question:

The agents dealing with his flat/repossession have given us until the 1st Dec to arrange a time to get his possessions back (they "had no one free to assist" us entry last week) - However they have stated that no one is allowed inside the property or on the drive way and we are to provide a list of what he wants to remove and they will remove it.

We want EVERYTHING out of there, do we have this right?

 

If so can anyone advise us what statue we should reference?

 

Many thanks

Mark

 

PS. On a positive note, my friend is now on day 6 of being 'dry' and is attending AA meetings every evening.

 

He has the right to take ALL of his belongings - there is no statute covering this. Just ensure that he has sufficient assistance to enable him to remove everything on the appointment day. They cannot prevent him from removing all his stuff on that day. They can, however, prevent more than one person going into the house at a time (they do this because they are afraid that once someone is back inside, they will close the door and squat - this, of course, is completely ridiculous now - and should be pointed out to them - as squatting is now a criminal offence and the police can be called and the person(s) removed forthwith).

 

In any case, ensure you have ample people who can help from the path/roadside to load the stuff into the van whilst someone is inside filling boxes and bringing them to the door. The mortgagee may be more prepared to allow professional movers to come in to pack up everything and remove it, so you might wish to consider speaking to them about that and pointing out that professional movers are not likely to want to squat!

[SBucks]

Hi,

I thought I should add an update to this post to close the chapter so to speak.

 

He did lose the house.

He did get all of his possessions back thanks to us knowing our legal position (as detailed in this thread).

They have not chased him for any of his outstanding debts but this is probably due to them not knowing where he lives.

He did get a job working for me but due to various factors (the main one being a possessive girlfriend who he ended up putting before his job) it only lasted 5 months and with it the best opportunity he will ever have for a well paid job (he would have done £40-£50K in his first year)

He still owes me £1000's and he isn't even keeping up with the £50/Wk he agreed to pay - I probably see him once per month if I'm lucky, the rest of the time he is in the pub or working on a farm

 

 

Anyway, on his behalf I would like to thank everyone who gave their time to respond to the thread.

 

Regards

Mark

[havinastella]

Thank you for taking the time to update the thread.

 

Jogs

[Desperate Daniella]

You sound like an amazing friend. What a shame he didn't appreciate the help you were giving him.

[Rorschach]

Sorry, but the information given here was incorrect.

Once a property is repossessed the issue of arrears no longer counts. Im sorry your friend lost there place but I hope it means they can move on with their life.

[Desperate Daniella]

What do you mean exactly?

[Lea_HTH]

Sorry, but the information given here was incorrect.

Once a property is repossessed the issue of arrears no longer counts. Im sorry your friend lost there place but I hope it means they can move on with their life.

 

You're wrong, and your statement has added absolutely nothing to the thread in terms of usefulness.

[Desperate Daniella]

In fact it was misleading which is why I asked what Rorschach meant.

 

Many of us on CAG know that you and Ell-enn have helped people to get their properties back after they have actually been repossessed.

[Lea_HTH]

Hi Daniella

 

It's very, very rare for someone to get their home back following a lawful possession order being granted by the courts and then executed by bauliffs. As indicated in post #2, which quite clearly states in this person's friend's case, getting back into the property relied on negotiations with the mortgagee. Getting his belongings back was another matter - and he was perfectly entitled to everything he owned within the property - and quite rightly was able to get those things.

 

OP, you were a lovely friend and it's a shame your mate couldn't be bothered to see what he was throwing away by not taking the help you offered him and sticking to whatever terms were agreed. Unfortunately for some people things get so bad they can't see the good, so you may find that once your mate is finished licking his wounds, he might want to make amends. One can only hope.

[Lea_HTH]

I can see Rorsach has been banned. Unsuprising really, the Site Team are wonderfully quick at spotting bad behaviour and stopping it in its tracks.

 

Well done, Site Team.