Eviction for mortgage arrears
If you're in mortgage arrears, your mortgage lender will want you to clear them.
If you aren't able to clear them, your lender will try to get you evicted from your home. This is called taking possession. It allows them to sell your property and use the money from the sale to help pay off the debt.
How your mortgage lender can take possession of your home
Your lender must go through the courts before they can take possession of your property. This is called taking possession action.
Your mortgage lender should not start possession action against you without giving you a reasonable chance to make arrangements to pay off the arrears, if you are able to.
If your lender starts possession action, you will get court papers.
The court will tell you the date they'll look at the case for the first time - this is called a 'review date'. The review date is a chance to resolve things without a full court hearing. You can get free legal advice on the review date. Before the review date, read the letters from the court and make sure you know how to get this advice.
If the case goes to a full court hearing, a judge will decide whether or not to grant your lender possession of your home.
This will depend on whether or not you are able to come to an agreement with your lender to pay off the arrears.
If you are able to make an acceptable offer to repay the arrears, the court will make a suspended possession order. This means that, so long as you keep to the terms of the order, you will be able to stay in your home.
However, if the judge decides that you are unable to make an acceptable offer to repay the arrears, they may make an outright possession order. This is an order which says that your lender can take possession of your property and that you will have to leave it by a certain date.
If you haven't left your home by the date on the outright possession order, your mortgage lender will need to apply to the court for a warrant of possession before you can be evicted.
There may still be time before the warrant of possession is issued for you to take action which will allow you to stay in your home.
Even though the court may have granted your mortgage lender possession of your home, it might not be too late to stop the eviction going ahead.
You might be able to ask the court to suspend the possession and allow you to stay in your home if your circumstances have changed. For example, if your income has increased and you can make payments towards arrears.
What happens during an eviction
There is no fixed procedure for an eviction. For example, there are no rules about what time of day bailiffs can call, or what they must do or say.
However, bailiffs must, act reasonably. They are entitled to use a reasonable amount of force if they need to, to enter your home, to remove you and anyone else who is there.
Your lender will be at the eviction so that the bailiff can hand over the keys of the property to them. Sometimes, the lender will send along a representative instead such as an estate agent appointed to sell the property,
The locks will be changed to prevent you re-entering. If you are not at home when the bailiffs arrive, they are allowed to break in and change the locks.
If the bailiffs think there might be some resistance from you, they may ask the police to be present when they carry out the eviction. The police are not allowed to help the bailiffs with the eviction. They are only there in case there is a breach of the peace.
Your lender has a right to vacant possession of your property which means that all your furniture and belongings must be removed. The bailiffs should not remove any of your furniture or belongings but will usually watch while you do this. If you refuse to remove your possessions, your lender is entitled to remove them. Your lender can also get a court order requiring you to remove your possessions.
Once you have been evicted, you will not usually be able to get back into the property. However, you may be able to make arrangements with your lender to leave your belongings locked inside and to collect them later.
If the bailiffs arrive when you are not at home and change the locks, leaving your possessions in the property, you will need to contact your lender. Your lender should then arrange to let you into the property to collect your possessions.
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