I have today recieved a default notice with arrears that I cant pay as my wife has had to give up work to look after our daughter and my salary barely covers the mortgage rent costs how long will it take untill our house is repossesed we have been told to pay the arrears within a fortnight any advice would be appreciated.

-- Mark Lonsdale (lonsdale_mark@msn.com), April 25, 2003

Answers

Mark,

I think that it would be difficult to predict how long it might take for your house to be repossessed, that would depend on the flexibilty of your lender and the court. Does the lender know your situation? If not, I would get in touch with them straight away and tell them. Also give them a figure which you can reasonably afford to pay, you may be able to negotiate a new repayment plan, or at least get yourself some more time to re-organize your finances. I would also go to your local council housing department and social services, there are very often specialist units there which can advise you and help prevent repossession. Of course, there is the CAB too. Try and maintain your mortgage payments up as much as possible, this will help keep the interest down at least, and will help, I think, if the case ever gets to court. The lender has to go to court to get a court order to possess, it's not automatic. Have a look at the postings by myself and Mr Button under "Reposession process" dated April 9th (about 27 postings down), the repo process is covered quite extensively there. Good Luck.

Mark.

-- M Amos (idgroms@hotmail.com), April 25, 2003.

Mark is absolutely right. If you have not already contacted the lender, do it Monday morning sharp. The sooner you alert them to the difficulties you have, the sooner can be put into place a plan to help you.

One thing to watch out for is that even though you may be given time to pay, the lender might still want to secure the promise of payment by getting a suspended possession order. You will have to suck and see on this one - if your offer to clear is reasonable enough, they may not do this. As Mark says though, read the advice both he and I have written before.

If you want any further help, email me privately, I will do what I can by way of advice.

-- David J. Button (davidjohnbutton@supanet.com), April 26, 2003.