How many homes will be repossessed?

[Davyjones]

I’ve never entered into a death grip (mortgage) with a bank so really unsure

what happens if you get into massive arrears in energy? At what point and under what circumstances would a house be repossessed?

would you have no choice but to pay whatever they charged?

we are holding off entering into a mortgage while socially housed as we feel secure accommodation-wise

I’m wondering how all this will play out

It’s my understanding that creditors can apply to the court to register a charge on a property. I’m not sure they could force a sale to realise what they are owed. This question might be better answered on a specialist forum.

What is a charge on the property?

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/charging-orders/#:~:text=When%20your%20creditor%20has%20a,called%20a%20'charging%20order'.

They have to get a court order against you, then claim a portion of your equity, then force a sale. So 3 stages. I wouldn't call that a "repossession" though, more a claim on your equity if you have it. You can argue against it if children live there or adults who do not owe anything.

I'm not seeing it happening with energy when they can install a pre-pay meter and apply the debt to that.

You wouldn't have your house repossessed for not paying energy bills no.

You have your house repossessed for not paying your mortgage.

If you don't pay your gas/electric and run up a debt then they can:
Put you on prepayment meters where you have to top up - they'll deduct an amount from each top up to pay off the debt you owe.
Or they can send bailiffs round - they usually just put you on a prepayment meter though. They tend to use bailiffs if they actually can't fit prepayment meters in your property due to the building.
Or they can deduct an amount each week/fortnight/month from your benefits.

As a last resort, they can disconnect you from your supply. This is an absolute last resort.

I'm not sure where you got the info from about putting a charge on the property, I've never heard of that for energy arrears. A charging order would usually be for debts where the creditor already has a CCJ. Things like bank loans where if you don't pay and ignore their letters then they can get a CCJ which stays on your credit file and then if you still don't pay, they can apply to the court to put a charge on your property.

Check out National Debtline, they have lots of fact sheets on different debts.

Here is the one on energy arrears:
www.nationaldebtline.org/fact-sheet-library/gas-and-electricity-arrears-ew/

So if you can’t afford energy and pay mortgage then nothing for energy then what?

we’ll have masses of racked up energy bills?
them what?

It's been said. If you don't pay your energy bills they will put you on a prepayment meter

Just in case you missed it.

I think you're probably getting a bit muddled up. Reading your post again, it sounds like you're trying to say if your energy bills increase so much that you're struggling to pay, you might end up not being able to afford to pay your mortgage. If you don't pay your mortgage then yes, your property could be repossessed.

The general advice with debts is that while both energy bills and the mortgage are priorities, if you can't afford both then focus on paying the mortgage. The mortgage is the roof over your head. Better to be in a cold house with no gas/electric than no house at all.

You don’t get repossessed for not paying your energy bills. Some people may get repossessed for missing mortgage payments, but it will be a small minority.

You wouldn’t get your house repossessed if you don’t pay your energy bills.. I’m not sure where you are getting this idea from ?

we are holding off entering into a mortgage while socially housed as we feel secure accommodation-wise

So you can afford a mortgage but are choosing to stay in social housing ? Is that allowed? Genuine question.

If you mean "Then what?" as in, what are the energy companies going to do then - there's no "Gotcha" moment here if we all stop paying. Just a lot of people with missed payments on their credit files and pre-pay meters, paying down their debts.

Yes it is allowed.

Sone tenancies are fixed term in which the housing association issue fixed term tenancies say 5 or 7 years. A year before that term is up they do a tenancy review. Some policies look at bed room size requirement eg someone in a 3 bed with a 1 bed need would be encouraged to downsize- as a last resort tenancy not renewed. Other policies have a capital limit inline with what you could have as max capital to be accepted on housing register. ( think it’s 50k here).

If I had a secure social housing tenancy I wouldn’t be going for a mortgage at the moment!

Others are assured tenancies. No renewal etc just carries on til death.

a lot of housing associations are doing away with fixed term tenancies as in reality it’s alot of work and seldom not renewed.

@CornishTiger interesting, thank you very much.

Don't whatever you do is give up on secure housing.

If you have enough for a mortgage, go for it so the next person on the list can be housed.

If you owe money to company and they obtain a CCJ and then take a charging order over the equity in the house, can request foreclosure.

If the house is jointly owned and the debt relates to one of the owners the equitable charge will relate to their share of equity in the property.

It should never get to that stage and would be very much a last resort for most debtors.