Mortgage with RBS - Repossesion order

[gregpicard]

Hi Guys, hoping you can help me with a big issue my family have at the moment

 

We bought my grandmothers home a couple of years ago. My father remortgaged the property 2 years ago to finance a business venture, which went bankrupt. So we were left with the remortgage at a horrible rate on a £120,000 property, paying out £800 a month.

 

This has been ongoing for the past 12 months. Chopping and changing repayment amounts when RBS decide to 're-evaluate' our position.

 

Basically, we have mortgage arrears of about £4000 on the house, and the mortgage was initially for £100.000. We have the house on the market now for offers over £114,000, however we will probably only get close to £105,000 at best.

 

According to RBS, they are now raising court action because even though we have offered to make lesser repayments and the house is for sale, we are still accruing slight arrears every month. They just aren't willing to give us any more time. They also say even if the house sells we will still owe them a slight amount of money.

 

Currently the house has a lot of interest, with 20 people due to have viewings over the next month.

 

Also, the local council have contacted us and said they would rent the property off us for social housing and pay us £575 a month with the potential to purchase the house off us after a year. We informed the solictor this, but RBS just flatly refused the idea to switch the mortgage to buy-to-let.

 

We asked the solicitor to switch the mortgage to a lower rate, as RBS currently offer between 2.5 - 3.5 % on mortgages. This would have lowered our payments and allowed us to meet them. Again, flatly rejected.

 

At the start of January, RBS had told their solicitors to inform us they required £500 payments over the next 3 months. We cannot afford that, so we offered £250 a month. This was flatly rejected, and shortly afterwards we were informed RBS had raised court action to repossess.

 

The fact that my parents have tried every possible option, with absolutely no leway or help from RBS, surely is in our favour. We've offered to make payments, at a lower amount but still offered, and are able to meet these payments (we haven't missed one since the repayment agreement started). The house is garnering good interest from potential buyers who are all due in to see it soon. We already have a concrete offer from the council to rent it off us, which the bank wont even entertain even though they will get their money that way.

 

Any advice on our situation would be most helpful. The court action was raised yesterday. Just wonder how the courts proceed with this, and if the fact we have done every possible thing to keep paying RBS but they have shot all of our options down would result in us being allowed to keep the house and not be ruled against?

 

Sorry for being a bit muddle in the information, i've just put down everything relevant.

 

Thanks

 

Greg

[gemspan]

Hi Gregpicard, the mortgage providers have to prove that they have tried everything possible to stop repossession and repossession should be the last resort. This clearly is not the case.

 

In addition, when a house is up for sale then it is normal and "fair" that the mortgage provider waits to see the outcome of the sale. The chances are they are not going to achieve any greater price if they repossess so this argument will not wear in court. Have a look at the attached links. they will give you a lot of information. If you need any additional help please just give me a shout. I have just been in court with Platform who failed to adhere to all the pre-action protocols.....and the case was thrown out....they now have to negotiate.

 

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/library/other_publications/miscellaneous/2009/mortgage_arrears_1

 

http://www.keepingyourhome.co.uk/download/advisersguide.pdf

 

and have a good read around govan law centre blog. Lots of interesting articles there.

 

http://govanlc.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Good luck.

 

Gemspan

[gregpicard]

Hi Gemspan

 

Thanks for that information, very interesting read.

 

The house has been on the market for just over 2 months, was a very slow period over December / January (as can be expected in the property market) but this month the interest in it is soaring, we are very confident we could get a sale through within the next 3 months. What the bank basically did, is told us they would let us continue to try and sell the house on our own for 3 more months but only if we paid them £500 a month each of those 3 months too. Obviously we can't do this but offered a lower amount, was refused and they have raised the court action immediately.

 

We're quite baffled that the bank won't even entertain the offer we have had from the Highland Council to rent the house out and possibly purchase it after 1 year. This would cover the cost of the mortgage, and allow us to pay back all of the arrears over the next year.

 

From the links you sent me, the bank would have to basically continue exactly what we are doing for them - advertising the property and doing all they can to sell it before resorting to an auction. Seems like they are being totally unreasonable in not giving us the opportunity to finalise a sale ourselves.

 

My father is going to get his solicitor to have a look at our case and see where we go from there. Cheers

[ims21]

Thread moved to the Home Repo forum where you may get some more replies and help

[gemspan]

This is a Scottish repo IMS21 hence the reason its in Scottish section. I got no help when I put my situation in Repo Forum because very few people are experienced in the Scottish system.

[gemspan]

Gregpicard, what have you received in the post from RBS? At this point in time you could write a letter advising them that they have failed to follow the pre-action protocols and any action will be strongly defended on these grounds.

 

You will get a notice served by Sheriff Officers that will include a date for a hearing. Every repossession case in Scotland has to have a hearing. At that point in time you have your opportunity to put forward your case as to why RBS should not get possession. There will also be legal fees racking up which, of course, if they have not followed pre-action protocols is very naughty and you may get the action thrown out with costs awarded.

 

Where about in the country are you? If you are in Glasgow you can use Govan Law Centre which are great. There are many law centres around the country that help many many people with situations like this. I cannot say that I found them very helpful but I do know that Govan is fantastic. Mike Dailly is a legend.

 

If you have received nothing yet then I wouldnt waste your money on a solicitor. Wait until you get a date for the hearing. You could send RBS a copy of the FSA guidelines on repossession and also state that they have failed to follow pre-action protocols. That may stop any action and also give the Sheriff something to look at when it does go to court. It shows just how unreasonable they are being. I have been through this whole process, I represented myself and I won my case on the "fairness" and pre-action protocols. Please just ask any questions.....I am happy to help.

[gemspan]

If things are proceeding the way you say they are then the house is likely to be sold before any action comes to court. RBS are just being irresponsible behaving in this way....

[ims21]

This is a Scottish repo IMS21 hence the reason its in Scottish section. I got no help when I put my situation in Repo Forum because very few people are experienced in the Scottish system.

 

Ok it is back where it was in Mortgages and Secured Loans.

[gemspan]

Sorry.....I thought it was in the Scottish forum.....