How to Stop House Repossession

Being faced with having your home repossessed is undoubtedly a scary and frustrating experience. Here at UK Homebuyers we understand what an awful position this is to be in, and can offer several ways in which we can help:

1. We can make an offer on your property, with guaranteed sale within 24 hours.
2. We have highly trained solicitors on hand to help you overturn eviction notices and pay off arrears.
3. We can even offer free advice for you to prevent eviction yourself (see below).

Repossession = Poor Sale

Lenders who repossess houses will almost always look for a quick sale. This might mean they get sold at auction, meaning there is no guarantee of how much the house will sell for. Another option is to sell it via local agents – the house will me left empty and not maintained until a local cash buyer is found, both of which will mean it sells for much less than its market value. In either case, you as the property owner will face the brunt of this poor sale – ongoing liability, a poor credit rating, negative equity if the sale fails to cover all your outstanding arrears and 3^rd party fees. You may be left homeless and still facing hundreds if not thousands of pounds’ worth of debt.

Our Solution

With are extensive knowledge of the property markets in areas all over the country, UK Homebuyers can offer you an immediate sale at up to 100% of your property’s market value. Sales can be completed in as little as 24 hours, so we can help even when eviction is imminent. Not only that – you can even sell and then rent back your property from us at a reduced rate, so you don’t have to find somewhere new immediately.

If you need more time to make payments or arrange a sale, our solicitors can provide the help you need in stopping eviction notices and keeping the bailiffs at bay. We will work with county courts to ensure you can sell your property on your own terms, rather than those of your lenders.

We are experts at selling repossessed houses quickly.

Do It Yourself

Prefer to do things your own way? We can help you stop repossession yourself via our FREE step-by-step guide.

[Disclaimer:This is non-commercial, public domain information, not official advice, and we do not accept responsibility should you choose to use it. However, you can at any time choose to speak to our qualified solicitors to help handle your case.]

Step 1 – Speak to Lender: Many people don’t take this first step, even when repossession is imminent – communication is key, and a frank, honest conversation over the phone with your lender could make all the difference. Banks and lenders are obliged to treat customers fairly when in financial distress (and indeed it is also in their best interest to keep your custom). Ask them for a new payment arrangement or more time. The worst they can say is no. If this bears no fruit (perhaps because of previous missed payments or a lack of available budget) you can take action yourself.

Step 2 – Make Plea to Court: This may sound daunting – filling in court documents and speaking to a judge. In actual fact, however, it is relatively simple. First, you need to request a county court hearing (via Form N244). Submitting an application costs £50, and can take between 3 and 7 days to process once submitted (though if you have an imminent eviction date, your form will be prioritised).

Step 3 – Speak to Judge: Once you have made your plea, you will be able to speak to a judge about making new arrangements and suspending the eviction warrant. Don’t worry, this won’t involve you standing before the bar with someone in a robe and wig looming over you. It will simply be you and a judge sitting round a table to calmly and privately discuss the situation. Judges want to avoid repossession, so as long as you provide valid reasons and make reasonable requests, they usually can and will suspend evictions. Here are several examples of new arrangements courts can help to grant you:

• An arrangement to repay arrears over a long-term period (S36 Administration of Justice Act).
• Additional time to sell your property yourself – usually a two-month extension, with additional time if you can show that a buyer has been found.
• Giving you a chance to repay some or all of the arrears in a lump sum (through inheritance, redundancy payments, other property sales still in progress, etc.) – again, this is usually a two-month extension, with additional time if progress has been made.
• Renewing a previously granted Suspended Possession Order.
• If there is an existing tenant that was previously unknown to the lender, they need 2 months’ notice to relocate (Mortgage Repossession Protection of Tenants Act) – this can only be requested once.

Your lender may well send a representative to discuss your submission with you before the hearing. They will either support your submission and ask the judge to suspend the eviction notice, or oppose and ask for the submission to be dismissed, BUT this will have no effect either way, as the judge will always look over your submission and use their own judgement (which, as mentioned, will almost always be in your favour).

You can appeal to the courts as many times as you like, regardless of previous broken arrangements and amount owed in arrears – but each application must be based on new information.Therefore, there are several options open to you, and ways to get multiple extensions to give you all the time you need to find a viable solution, either to pay off your arrears or secure a much better sale of your property.

We hope you have found this information both helpful and reassuring. Should you have any questions, or want to speak to one of our highly-qualified solicitors, please do not hesitate to get in touch.