Multiple Eviction Threats

[Shaina]

I was due to be evicted tomorrow morning but managed to get it suspended after filing an N244 and attending court this morning. This is the 5th time that I've been in this position although only the 2nd time I've actually been to court, but the hearing did not go as I had expected and I think I came within a hair's breadth of losing my home today.

 

If it happens again in the future, I will need to request permission from the court to appeal the eviction and the judge made it clear that this was my last chance. I've only had to go through this 4 times previous because Halifax have threatened eviction each time I've underpaid or missed a payment - even though I've kept them in the loop and the reason has never been a total inability to pay.

 

I provided evidence that I was able and had been able to maintain payments towards the mortgage and the £12,227 arrears. I arranged to pay £700 per month which is £90 towards the arrears each month but the judge felt that I was just getting myself in even deeper and he stated that my case was marginal.

 

I can keep up payments but is there any way to get the suspended possession order cancelled after a period of time?

Edited March 11, 2013 by Shaina

[Lea_HTH]

I was due to be evicted tomorrow morning but managed to get it suspended after filing an N244 and attending court this morning. This is the 5th time that I've been in this position although only the 2nd time I've actually been to court, but the hearing did not go as I had expected and I think I came within a hair's breadth of losing my home today.

 

If it happens again in the future, I will need to request permission from the court to appeal the eviction and the judge made it clear that this was my last chance. I've only had to go through this 4 times previous because Halifax have threatened eviction each time I've underpaid or missed a payment - even though I've kept them in the loop and the reason has never been a total inability to pay.

 

I provided evidence that I was able and had been able to maintain payments towards the mortgage and the £12,227 arrears. I arranged to pay £700 per month which is £90 towards the arrears each month but the judge felt that I was just getting myself in even deeper and he stated that my case was marginal.

 

I can keep up payments but is there any way to get the suspended possession order cancelled after a period of time?

 

The short answer is 'no'.

 

The longer answer is that you will need to clear the arrears in their entirety, and then maintain an arrears free account for a minimum of around 9 months before you could ask the mortgagee to release the possession order...if they agree, the courts will cancel it, but if they disagree you would have to make an application to the courts yourself. At that stage, the court are likely to want to have seen at least a year's worth of steady payment, all made on time, with no defaults.

 

If you have had five stays, I doubt that the mortgagee would agree, even with 9-12 months clear payments, simply because you have clearly kept your account in a state of arrears, even under a court order, for a lengthy period of time.

[Shaina]

The arrears built up over a period where I was out of work but for the past few years, I have kept up payments 95% of the time. Where I needed to pay less than the contractual an=mount, I let my lender know, and would make up the shortfall in following months but for the past year, they haven't accepted this and have ordered evictions each time I made an underpayment. In each case I had to account for an unforseen bill and the recent eviction was due to an attachment of earnings order for council tax arrears that was put on my salary mistakenly. I got it sorted out and offered to make up the shortfall for the 2 months that I underpaid but it that was of no consequence. The judge was unsympathetic after he heard that 5 eviction orders had been made but they were purely due to Halifax flexing their muscles and I'm petrified it could happen again. The arrears are £12k and I'm getting through them but it will take time but if Halifax are able to order eviction each time I have a problem - I'm in trouble. I doubt I'll be able to remortgage with my credit history and so I'm stuck - I'm paying more than I should on SVR, court charges are added after each eviction order and it just adds up. I don't know what to do aside from keep struggling and keep my fingers crossed.

[Lea_HTH]

The arrears built up over a period where I was out of work but for the past few years, I have kept up payments 95% of the time. Where I needed to pay less than the contractual an=mount, I let my lender know, and would make up the shortfall in following months but for the past year, they haven't accepted this and have ordered evictions each time I made an underpayment. In each case I had to account for an unforseen bill and the recent eviction was due to an attachment of earnings order for council tax arrears that was put on my salary mistakenly. I got it sorted out and offered to make up the shortfall for the 2 months that I underpaid but it that was of no consequence. The judge was unsympathetic after he heard that 5 eviction orders had been made but they were purely due to Halifax flexing their muscles and I'm petrified it could happen again. The arrears are £12k and I'm getting through them but it will take time but if Halifax are able to order eviction each time I have a problem - I'm in trouble. I doubt I'll be able to remortgage with my credit history and so I'm stuck - I'm paying more than I should on SVR, court charges are added after each eviction order and it just adds up. I don't know what to do aside from keep struggling and keep my fingers crossed.

 

With any respect due, the eviction notices were due to you failing to make the payments you had agreed to under a court order and not because Halifax were 'flexing their muscles'. My view is that you have to take responsibility before you can actually accept that stopping these processes is entirely down to you and your own actions. I am not saying that to be mean - more to point out that this is in your control and they are doing nothing more than what every mortgagee would do in the same circumstances.

 

Perhaps the payment towards the arrears is too high each month - have you done an income and expenditure to work out precisely what you can afford? You need to be able to account for any unexpected expenses that occur, such as a boiler breaking down, or your car needing a new tyre, without having to dip into the money that is for your mortgage and the arrears.

 

At the top of this forum there is a sticky thread from which you will be able to download the income and expenditure sheet. Fill it in accurately. Next work out in months exactly how long you have left on the mortgage, and then divide the exact arrears by that number of months. The figure you get is what is called a Norgan compliant offer. If this is more affordable for you, than what you are currently paying, then you are within your rights to make an application to the court to have the suspended possession order varied, to lower the amount you are paying. If what you are paying is the same, or only marginally higher than the Norgan amount, then there is no point in applying to the courts.

 

You do have another option open to you, and that is to sell if the mortgage really is beyond your ability to pay it regularly and on time. Or, if you have a spare room, to rent it out. Or, if you have children, or some vulnerability yourself (e.g. a disability), you could ask your local authority about the Mortgage Rescue Scheme.

[BornThisWay]

Shaina I do have the greatest of sympathy for your position as I have experienced something similar.

 

The trouble is that the mortgage companies really want rid of borrowers at the moment - banks hate lending at the best of times and anyone who is not paying immediately and on time is just a problem they want rid of as far as they are concerned.

 

The truth is that no human being is involved in the process - the computer is set up to invoke the eviction process if you miss a payment, make it late, or under pay - and it is almost impossible to find anyone at either the lender (in my case Accord) or their solicitors (the dreadful Cobbetts) who gives a damn about whether you have had to replace the gas boiler or pay your Council Tax.

 

I have carried on as you have done with a handful of evictions but have pulled myself out of the situation simply because I pay the mortgage to the detriment of everything else. If I get sent to prison for being late with my Council Tax I shall get a nice break with free food (!), I didn't pay the electricity bill so am now stuck with a pre-payment meter which costs the earth, and all the other bills just get ignored until there is some money to pay them. Eventually you learn to turn a deaf ear!

 

But.........at least I am not being dragged into court every couple of months because I didn't pay the mortgage plus arrears. And that is a huge weight off my mind.

 

I don't know your personal circumstances but my advice would be to go without food (I've done that as well), ignore all other bills, but get the mortgage paid. Lenders are heartless whatsits who will throw you on the street without turning a hair. Don't give them the satisfaction.

 

Down-sizing is the obvious answer for lender and borrower, but of course they have effectively made that impossible by the impact they have had on your credit history.

 

Seriously, for what it is worth, I do sympathise!!