Halifax Repossession Order. Please Help

[AnnesAngels]

Desperately need help

I have a suspended repo order on my home made around 3 years ago, now halifax have applied to enforce the repo order.

They wanted £4500 to stop it going ahead but i have today received a copy of the notice that has been sent to court yesterday (11/11/2013) it asks for a warrant to be issued.

I have all ways been in touch with Halifax, my husband was made redundant and has been in temporary work for the the last couple of years but got a permanent contract 2 weeks ago, (the day i found out Halifax wanted to repossess)

We have arrears of £12500 on a £111000 mortgage with 16 years left on it.

I had contact with their solicitors shoosmiths 2 weeks ago and advised them i could pay £200 extra per month and £4k on 7th January with a further 2 payments of £3k in april and august on top of the £200 per month meaning all the arrears will be paid within 12 months. They said they would send the offer to Halifax.

I spoke to Halifax today and they said they have had no information from shoosmith and now wont discuss any payment arrangements until i have an eviction date.

 

I'm so worried that once an eviction date is set they wont want to negotiate.

I have 4 children the youngest being disabled, the older two help us to care for her,

We desperately don't want to lose our home and break our family up

Just as we were getting back on our feet

Please can anyone advise me what to do i'm desperate.

Thank you so much in advance

[Colly46]

Hi AnnesAngels, I dont want to read and run, I understand your desperation, the halifax are taking us to court next month (Ho! Ho! Ho!) its all happened so quickly,and like you,we have been in contact with them. The best thing I did was come onto this forum, the advice and support has been wonderful,hang on in there, I'm sure someone will be along soon!

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, did you make your offer in writing? if not get it6 all down in a letter and send to Halifax by special delivery with a copy to their solicitors. Make sure whatever you offer is what you can definitely stick to otherwise you will be in the same position in a few months time. if you need help with the letter please let me know.

[AnnesAngels]

No i did it over the phone to the solicitor and Halifax, i'll do it now, thank you.

Is it too late, am i going to lose my home?

[Ell-enn]

It's not too late at all, if you need to go to court to defend the eviction then then you can show the judge your letter contained an offer to pay off the arrears. Do you need help with the letter ? You need to tell them that you intend to defend the eviction by applying for a hearing in front of a judge and their response to your offer will be reported to the court in the hearing.

[AnnesAngels]

Thanks, i think i may be ok with the letter, i'm part way through it now, should i attach and income and expenditure or not?

[Ell-enn]

Which income and expenditure form have you done? is it this one (the one we normally use in these cases).

 

If you want us to check over your letter we're happy to do so

[AnnesAngels]

I hadn't done one yet but was thinking it may help to do one, yes that would be helpful before i send it i'll pop it on here tonight.

Thanks for all your advice, i'm sick with worry.

[Ell-enn]

If you want me to look over your budget sheet you can email it to me at [email protected] (there's no space between the c and o the site just shows it like that). If you do send it please post on here to tell me so I can look out for it.

[Ell-enn]

You may find some of the wording in the affixed template letter useful

[AnnesAngels]

Thanks a bunch. yes i can email it to you, going to get my daughters meds done and settle her down then i can sit and concentrate on getting it all done tonight.

[AnnesAngels]

Hi, this is my letter, was going to send a copy to shoosmiths, not sure if i should address it to them or just send a copy of the one i' sending to Halifax, Any help or comments are welcome. Thanks

Dear Sir/Madam

Re Account No/Reference No:- xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Following on from our telephone call on 12th November 2013, I was made aware that the details of our offer of payments to clear our mortgage arrears had not been passed on from Shoosmiths Solicitors.

This offer was made over the telephone to Paul xxx who represents Shoosmiths on 29th October 2013 and I was advised he would forward it to the Halifax.

Therefore we are confirming our offer of repayment in writing.

Since making a previous payment agreement with you, our circumstances have changed.

We can now afford the agreed monthly mortgage payments of £911.75 and are in a position to pay £200 extra per month because Mr xxxxxx has now gone from being in temporary agency employment to having a permanent contract. We have sought financial help from CAB who have set out a comfortable plan enabling us to budget our finances more efficiently.

As well as the £200 per month extra payment we are also in a position to offer a sum of £4000 to be paid on 7th January 2014, a payment of £3000 on 23rd April 2014 and £3000 on 20th September 2014. This will result in all the arrears on our mortgage being cleared within the next ten months.

We enclose a Personal Budget sheet which shows our total income from all sources, and our outgoings.

In view of our circumstances, please would you agree to accept the offer of £200 per month and the three lump sum payments to clear our arrears? Should our circumstances improve we will contact you again.

Thank you for your assistance. We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully

[Ell-enn]

Are you absolutely sure you can keep to the payments you have offered right through to September 2014 ?

 

You need to let them know you intend to defend their action for eviction so I think you should change the last paragraph of the letter to:

 

 

We are sure you will be aware that in any claim for possession, lenders will be required toprove that they have considered all possible alternatives to possession inaccordance with the Mortgage Conduct of Business rules.

 

 

We trust you will be able to respond positively to ourrequest for help and look forward to receiving your written acceptance of theabove proposal. How you respond to ourrequest will, of course, be reported to the court in defence of the eviction notice.

[Ell-enn]

Did you email your budget sheet?

[AnnesAngels]

Yes, have done a plan with cab financial advisor so it sits comfortably. Only after i wrote the letter i saw the template you put on, thanks, wasn't sure to put that, don't want to seem too aggressive, but then they are taking our home from us, i'll add that now.

Just a bit of advise on the expenditure, on the budget sheet it shows we have £800 left over each month after bills and after the offer of £200. Obviously as we all know that never really happens, it's eaten away by the odd school trip or we sometimes have to get large nappies for out daughter (the council no longer give them free) or the boiler goes. Should i jiggle that? i don't want them to think we can afford to pay more. Thanks

P.S How do i email it to you, there is no option to send private message unless i just can't see it.

Edited November 13, 2013 by AnnesAngels

[Ell-enn]

Goodness me - you can't send in a budget sheet with £800 left over each month after everything is paid !! if that gets in front of a judge he will expect you to pay that amount towards the arrears. This is the budget sheet we normally use in repossession cases - fill it in and email it to me so I can see how best to distribute your finances.

[AnnesAngels]

Thats the budget sheet i have done, it's ready now, how do i send it to you? Thanks

[Ell-enn]

Hi email it to [email protected] (there is no space between the c and o, the site just shows it like that)

[AnnesAngels]

Sent, Thank you

[Ell-enn]

Hi, got it and replied

[Ell-enn]

Any news ?

[AnnesAngels]

Hi, yes

Halifax refused to discuss payment plan until we received the eviction date, that arrived and it was for 6th December. I phoned them as soon as that came and at first they just kept saying i should try borrow the money from family (i have no family) or try to get a loan or sell some belongings (already done that and don't have anything left to sell) after half an hour of me insisting i couldn't get all the money together and asking them to accept my payment plan they agreed on the basis of me paying £1k by today, have managed to do that ( sold my engagement ring ) and they are writing to shoosmith to confirm it and to cancel the eviction.

So hopefully that's that so long as i keep up to date with the payments. i think i will call the local court on monday though and just check that the eviction has been cancelled by halifax.

Thanks you so much for all your help, i wouldn't have been able to do this without your support, i really believed we would lose our home.

[Ell-enn]

Hi, good news that you have managed to reach an agreement with them. You should definitely ring the court and check the eviction has been cancelled.

 

They should never have made you wait for the eviction warrant, nor should they have told you to borrow money from family or get a loan !

 

I hope everything goes well for you from now on, well done for persisting with your offer

[ukaviator]

There will be charges of around $50 a month added to the mortgage, you should claim this back. Here is a letter link to claim them:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?390026-Mortgages-Reclaiming-Charges