As an organisation, Quick Sale Completions receives many calls from homeowners who think they need a fast property sale because they are facing the prospect of repossession.  The reality is that there is often a very simple solution to what may seem like a complicated situation – meaning that you do not even have to consider selling the property at all.

This short article explains the various stages that the lenders go through once a borrower falls into arrears and the steps that can be take to avoid repossession.

Stage 1 – If you are minimum of three months in arrears, the lender will write to you.  Whilst the letter may seem threatening in its tone, you should remember that lenders often have computerised (automatic) systems which deal with people who fall into arrears.  Your best option is to keep in touch with them to discuss the situation.  You will need to take a close look at your monthly budget and see whether you realistically have the means to pay them in the time they require.  If so, you should contact them and explain exactly when the money will be paid back and follow it up with a letter (photocopy this for your own records).  Lenders can be flexible with monies owed provided the homeowner remains honest and keeps in regular touch.

Stage 2 – If the arrears are unpaid for 3-6 months or more (and you have not discussed a payment plan with them), the lender will refer the account to their solicitors. They will write to you demanding full payment and warn that if you do not bring their account up to date or if they have not responded with an adequate proposal for paying off the arrears, court proceedings will be started.  The lenders will start to take a more serious look at what is happening so the key here is to communicate with them as much as possible.

Stage 3 – The start of repossession proceedings: when the lender gets no clarification with regards to paying back the arrears, the solicitors will issue County Court Repossession proceedings against you. The court will set a hearing date which you must attend (or else the repossession procedure could be fast-tracked).

Stage 4 -  At the hearing the Judge will decide whether you can repay the mortgage, on what terms and over which period.   It should be remembered that, generally speaking, the court’s view is that repossession is the last resort and the Judge will explore all options available to you.  If you are in this situation, you should take along as much evidence as you can with you to show if, what and how you will be able to pay them back (things like payslips, a letter from your employer / job centre).  The judge will make one of the following decisions:

• Adjorn – one outcome at the first meeting is to adjourn to a later date to allow for the collection of more information (if, for example, you are able to provide some new evidence as to how you can clear the arrears) – a new hearing date will be set;

• Dismiss or Adjourn indefinitely – usually only following full payment of the arrears;

• Issue a Suspension Order – if you can come up with an agreed arrears repayment schedule, then the Judge may issue a Suspension Order i.e. the repossession order is temporarily placed on hold.

Stage 5 – after the hearing, if you feel that you still cannot keep up with the agreed schedule with the judge contact us by completing the form on the right of this web page.  We will spend some time discussing other ways you could potentially deal with the situation, including our ‘part-now, part later’ policy which will enable you to receive the full market value of the property.

If you fail maintain the agreed payment schedule, the lender can obtain a Possession Warrant (Eviction Order) without further court hearings.  You will receive a date and time from the court when you must leave.  Please note that should you find a way to clear the arrears at this point (for example, you have found a buyer for your property) you can still stop the process from happening by visiting the court with a completed N244 form which can be downloaded here.

Note that there have been some exceptional instances where we have been able to get the property back into the name of the homeowner after the eviction has taken place.  If you have been repossessed already, complete our form on the right and our legal team will be in touch with you in the next few hours.

Please complete our web form to the right of this page for a no-obligation chat.