Fathers house going to be repossessed

[bigprob2013]

Hi. New to the forum.

 

I am currently trying to help my father through some serious debt problems and having been to the Citizens advice a couple of times bankruptcy is looking likely (although need to save enough money first). I have also discovered though that the mortgage company have been to court and been issued a possession order for his house. The date given on the court form says he should have been out on the 26th October. He has been ringing them weekly and paying something but still owes £500. He has sold most of his furniture and other belongings to try pay the arrears off but it's not enough. I was wondering if anyone knew since the court has already issued the possession order, whether the house is going to be repossessed regardless of what he pays now? They have told him it is in the hands of their solicitors. What happens next? He does have a permanent job but the pay is not great. had an IVA fail as unable to keep up payments. could probably pay off mortgage arrears if had no other debts to pay. also has CCJ and bailiffs coming to recoup another debt. lots going on here. Unfortunately I don't have anything spare to help him (married with two kids)

 

He has accepted he can't keep the house but needs to find somewhere else to live before repossessed. The CAB has said the council are unlikely to re-house him and private landlords won't touch him. I'm unsure where else to go right now so would be grateful for any advice anyone has. Should he keep trying to pay the mortgage company or keep the money to save for bankruptcy?

[caro]

Hi and welcome to cag.

 

Did you father go to court?

 

Has he had an eviction date?

 

How long is left on the mortgage?

 

Are you sure the arrears are only £500?

 

Is there any equity in the property?

 

Obviously the mortgage isn't the only issue, but let's look at that first.

[ukaviator]

Hi bigprob2013

 

The arrears are small and there maybe enough money to settle the arrears if the mortgage company paid back the arrears charges of $50 a month which is automatically added to the account. Click the link below for the letter which you should send to the mortgage company requesting those charges back.

 

Charges refund letter:

 

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

 

How old is your father is he on his own?

 

To see fully what his income & expenditure is it may help to fill in the form, link below, to get a full picture of his payments to other creditors. It sounds like your father maybe paying off the wrong people first, credit card and loan debt is not a priority debt. Let us know what you have found and answer Caro's questions we may be able to help.

 

Budget sheet here:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=47633&d=1384275448

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, if a possession order has been granted with a vacation date of 26th October it means that if your father didn't leave by that date the lender would apply for an eviction warrant (which is why the will have said it is with their solicitors). Hoiwever, if you get an eviction warrant you can defend provided you can show the judge you can pay something towards the arrears on top of the normal monthly payment. We can help with this.

 

Just a few questions:

 

How much is the normal monthly payment?

How long is left on the mortgage?

You say he has bailiffs calling for another debt - is it a CCJ that he hasn't paid? if so he can apply to the court to make monthly payments towards the debt at a rate he can afford.

 

At the moment the mortgage and the CCJ are the most important things to sort out. If you answer the questions we can get started If he can afford the mortgage and a small amount towards the arrears each month and negotiate smaller payments to other creditors then he should be OK.

 

Can you list his debts please so we can establish which take priority - also complete the budget sheet (link in post above) - just put the basics in -monthly salary, then normal mortgage payment - council tax, water rates, gas & Elec. How much is left over?

[bigprob2013]

Hi. Thanks for the advice. I'll try to answer all the questions raised the best I can but I've not got all the info in front of me right now and it seems more debt/problems are appearing as we go. Think he must owe everyone something.

He has not been to court for anything. His wife (my stepmother) has left him recently and he is not in a very good state of mind to cope with any of it at the moment. Think he has been ignoring all letters for a while.

 

The only court form I can see referring to the repossession is the one stating he has until 26th October as the date he should leave the property.

 

There are only 3 years left on the mortgage which according to the information with the court letters stands at a little over £133,100.

He has been paying interest only at £244 per month. There's no way he will ever pay this up in 3 years so even if he manages to some how keep it he will need to sell in the next 3 years.

A very similar property a few doors away has just gone up for sale at £150,000. However, there are also two charging orders attached to his. one for £10,000 and one for £6,000.

 

The mortgage arrears were at £680 but he has now paid some of this off. It currently stands at £230 and he has been selling whatever he can and is phoning weekly to try pay something.

 

He's unsure what charges have been applied by the mortgage company but I'll look into this and send the letter as advised.

 

My father is 58.

He was on his own but my younger brother who is 21 has just moved back in with him to pay rent to try and help. He is going to pay £275 per month.

 

There is an outstanding CCJ for about £4200. A warrant of execution for a bailiff was received on 31st Oct. We have sent a N245 application to suspend this and made an offer of £10 per month. The bailiff has turned up but gone away again once my father informed them the N245 had been sent. They said they would ring him in a couple of weeks.

 

He had an IVA terminated and the total debts from that come to £66,000. This did not include the CCJ debt above. A report sent with termination does list the creditors and some have already passed these on to debt recovery firms. I have written to any that have sent letters asking for 28 days whilst advice is sought.

 

He is on a pre-payment meter for gas and electric. These were installed to recover debt he owes British Gas. He doesn't use his gas though.

 

I am still trying to find out and list all the debts and will fill in the budget sheet as soon as I have all the info needed.

 

Thanks very much for the advice I will try to get all the facts as soon as I can. He didn't keep good records of letters so as and when he finds them I find out about new debts.

[caro]

See what others think but I believe your father shouldn't pay any more off the mortgage and save the money for other things he's going to need, whether it be bankruptcy, moving costs or a deposit for somewhere else to live.

[ukaviator]

I agree this looks like a lost cause now with the debts that high. With no assets left it may be time to consider bankruptcy. Due to your fathers state of mind you will need to do a lot of letter writing on his behalf.

[bigprob2013]

Thanks I was thinking along the same lines. Be difficult to save the house now. Although the CAB have said they don't think he will get a council house and most private landlords/letting agents won't rent to someone with bad credit/CCJ/Bankrupt.

 

I'm Planning to go to the council to ask if they can help with housing. Until we get that sorted though it seems the only option would be to keep trying to pay the mortgage arrears. If he stops does anyone know how long it would take for them to get an eviction through the court? Need to make sure we have time to find him somewhere else to live.

[Ell-enn]

If you pay off all the arrears they can't go for eviction, but you would need to make sure every monthly payment was made on time or they would be able to apply for eviction the first time one was missed.

 

If they do go for eviction, you an apply to the court for a hearing to ask for time to find alternative accommodation or put forward a payment proposal to stop the eviction.