We have a court order for repossession of our house. Our solicitor has said that the judge will have no alternative but to grant an order. We owe 20,000 in arrears but if we ask if we can pay our normal monthly payment plus an extra 250.00, this would mean the arrears would be cleared in 7 years. We have 12 years left to go on our mortgage. We have equity of £50,000 in our house. Our solicitor has said that the judge normally wants the arrears paid in 12 month, but this is impossible in our case. If we had our house repossed we would not have anywhere to go and we have to children. What do you think our changes our. Please could someone give me advise. Thankyou

Caroline

-- caroline Hui (carrots@onetel.net.uk), April 15, 2002

Answers

If what you say is correct, ie £20k arrears but £50k equity, then why not sell the house yourselves? In theory this would leave you with £25-30k and you could then put down a deposit on another house. Re- mortgaging would appear to be a solution also since you appear to be able to afford higher mortgage payments. When you say you have a court order do you mean the lender has obtained a suspended possession order, or that you have been summonsed to appear in court at a repossession hearing? On the surface it seems surprising that your lender is not willing to help you manage the problem, but I daresay that there is a lot of past history. £20k of arrears sounds a huge amount to have built up but perhaps if your mortgage payments are huge too this has happened very quickly in relative terms? As to your chances in a court hearing I have no idea. A sensible judge might listen to a well thought out re-financing plan particularly if you had a different lender who was willing to re-mortgage the property to include your arrears. Have you tried other re-mortgaging sources?

-- Gordon Bennet (arsenewhinger@hotmail.com), April 15, 2002.

First & foremost, your solicitor should have put your lender to 'strict proof of any debt' and 'no arrears are admitted' - has this been done ?

Secondly, has he sought to rely on Norgran -v- Cheltenham & Gloucester Court of Appeal 1996 ? Where it was held that the remainder of the mortgage term was the appropriate starting point for the repayment period of any arrears - which from your posting you can more than satisfy on the figures proposed.

The County Court is bound by this precedent. Has this been pleaded for you ?

Good Luck ! Vic

-- Vic Harper (victorcharper@aol.com), April 15, 2002.