House repossession, anyone been through this?

[FeelLikeAnEtonMess]

Hiya, not sure if this is the right subject to post under.
Has anyone had their house repossessed and could explain the process to me please?
I’ve got a complicated situation, split with my partner back in September and I’ve stayed in the house while he’s been paying the mortgage. He’s decided to stop paying the mortgage and is refusing to let me put the house up for sale. Estate agents came round in January and took the pics, wrote the details etc but ex is refusing to sign so we can’t get it on the market.

I’m not paying the mortgage, 1. I can’t afford it and 2. I would have had it up for sale 7 months ago if I could.

As it feels like we are never going to agree on selling the house, letting it be repossessed seems like the best option at the moment!
We’ve currently missed 2 mortgage payments now. Do you get the equity back once a house has been repossessed? We only have a very small mortgage, about 15% of the value, so have a big chunk of equity in the house.
many advice would be much appreciated!

Why would you not consider going to court?!

I’d do everything possible to avoid the house being repossessed.

Whilst the bank will give you back any equity from the house it will be what’s left after they’ve sold it and deducted all fees. The bank will have zero interest in recouping anything other that what’s owed to them on the house so it will likely go for less than market value - so your equity will be reduced.

id go to court to force the sale. It’ll cost you less in the long run.

Speak to a solicitor about your options. Phone your mortgage lender today to explain the situation and ask for a payment holiday. A repossession is the last resort after you've tried all other options as it will be so expensive for the reasons outlined above.

Jesus you need legal advice a house with only a 15% mortgage and your purposely letting your credit get so bad it will be repossessed. The fees, the stress and the long term damage to your credit rating is really not worth this you could end up being denied another mortgage at all!!

are you on the mortgage? Even if he won’t pay, you should be paying your half plus technically you should be paying his share as “rent”, I’m sure someone else can come along and explain the proper legal terms. I am currently the ex living outside of the home and I pay my half of the mortgage as I can’t afford a bad credit rating and will get a larger share of equity when we reach our financial agreement.

Have you spoken to the mortgage company? Could you switch to interest only? Can you get a lodger to help pay the mortgage?

So many better options than letting the bank repossess!

Yes you'd get the difference between the sale value and the outstanding loan plus bank's costs. This means they have no interest in selling it for market value, they just want to sell it as fast as possible so long as they get back what they're owed. Even if the loan is only 15% you won't get anything like 85% of the true value back.

Can you afford to pay the interest on the mortgage while you take your ex to court to force the sale? It'll be better for you financially.

Move this to Legal OP, as quick as you can. You have had some good advice so far, you will get more over on the Legal board.
Meanwhile, phone the mortgage provider. You really do need to go to court, it would be madness not to.

I can’t afford to take it to court and I can’t afford to pay the mortgage.
I feel stuck.
How do I move this post to legal?
He agreed to carry on paying the mortgage if I signed an agreement to give him an extra 35k from the house sale, I agreed and left him to sort out his agreement and get it sent to me, he went off and spoke with his solicitor and came back to me saying he wanted the mortgage payments paid back to him out of my half of profit out of the house sale on top of the 35k, which I refuse to do as he’s already getting enough money out of the house.

Sounds like a mess, but I would really try prevent repossession if you are on the mortgage, as it will look terrible on your credit rating.

He’s extorting you.

Hello there sorry you are going through this
I've just sent a message to moderators to move this to legal as you seem to be wanting this.

Agree with others about hanging on to the house and going to court. Totally.

You don't need to pay legal fees although it may be a fast learning curve, you can do this yourself. Courts are very understanding of litigants in person.

Create a file at home for yourself with paperwork in. Gather info.

Have a word with the organisation Surviving Economic Abuse, which I feel this may be. Look at their website.

Mumsnet and the forum at SEA can be very helpful about such things.
You go this, don't give up.

Surviving Economic Abuse: Transforming responses to economic abuse

If you have a low income / are on certain benefits, you can get a fee remission with the Court and get all / some of the fee back.

You really shouldn't passively let this happen.

We're going to move this over to legal for you now, OP. We hope you get the advice and support that you need over there.

Contact the mortgage provider immediately explain the situation and see if you can get a payment freeze or just pay the interest for a few months while you get things sorted since the loan to value is so small.
Try citizens advice for free legal advice or perhapd womens support services.
Reposition would not be very sensible, the bank would likely accept a below valuation sale price as they only require to cover the outstanding loan and costs. You be left with far less to move on with.
The effect of repossession would have serious implications for getting future loans and financial services.also.

If you are repossessed then you will not be able to get a mortgage for some time if you ever want to buy in the future.You may need a much bigger deposit, the lender may charge higher interest. You might get very little equity once the repossession is sold as costs will be added and interest until it is sold. Repossessed properties often don't sell for as much as ones which aren't.
I suggest that you get legal advice , even asking a law centre/housing advice centre would be better than doing nothing. I wouldn't suggest anyone just lets a mortgaged property be repossessed without trying to avoid it. [I was a homeless officer for many years]

Assuming you're in the UK and England/Wales.

Letting your home be repossessed is a badoption for reasons set out above. It's also likely to take ages.

What exactly is the situation with ownership? Joint tenants or tenants in common? If the latter is it split 50/50 or in some other proportion? Apart from the purchase mortgage are there any other loans/charges affecting the title?

Are you and the ex married to each other?

You need legal advice urgently. It may be possible to access some free help via Citizens Advice, another charity or a local legal firm who do pro-bono stuff.

If there's significant equity in the place then I suspect a lawyer might be willing to postpone their fee on condition that they're paid on completion.

@FeelLikeAnEtonMess you jointly own 85%, if you can afford to pay anything each month e.g. £50 do it. The more you can pay the better. With only 15% the lender will have options to help you e.g. extending the term, interest only.

Contact your lender explain the situation and ask for help.

Write to DH and point out:

• the lender will sell well below market value
• the lender will take all their fees before dividing the remainder.
• he wont get the £35k extra,
• he won’t even get half of the current market rate less 15%
• his credit rating will be affected
• you have wanted to sell and so you could ask a court to make him liable for all the lenders fees from selling the property.

Ask him does he really want to throw away so much money. If not he would be better to agree to selling the house now.

If you can get him to agree then the lender will hold off on repossession.

Put everything in writing OP. If he phones you, immediately summarise the conversation by email so you have a record.

Thank you for all of your advice.
I have contacted a solicitor and we have a meeting on Thursday to find out what my options are, I was hoping getting a court order for the sale of the house might be an option.
I did try calling the mortgage lender last month to ask for a payment holiday and was told that it wasn’t an option.
Has anyone on here successfully got a court order for a house sale, what is the process?
We have a court hearing tomorrow for a non molestation order, I am hoping that might help in pushing him to sell the house.

Just to add, if you have house insurance, check your policy it may include legal cover, which might help you cover your legal costs.

This link offers more information about the repossession process and your rights. As you are now officially in arrears I would suggest phoning your lender to ask what support they do offer for those in arrears. If it's nothing I'd be taking this further e.g notifying your MP.

Sorry, here is the link ! https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-arrears-help/