Does anyone have any experience of selling a house via court order? How does it work?

[citronella]

I may have to go down this route with my ex matrimonial home, but have a few questions like do you still go through an estate agent, or is it done at auction? Can you still get a decent price or do you just get rock bottom? Are there fees involved and if so which ones?

Sorry lots of questions but I would like some idea of what I'm up against and also from people's own experiences, was it fairly straightforward or stressful?

TIA

I have no experience but didn't want to see your post languish. I'm assuming that the house has to be sold following divorce, and I can't see why this process would be different to any other house being sold. It's not a repossession order, (where a bank/building society wants to get cash asap and don't care if you're left with outstanding debt) so I'd do it through an agent for the best price you can get.

Good luck.

You get an order from the court forcing a sale and it goes through the estate agents in the usual way, both parties are told what percentage of the equity they will receive if there is any.

It's stressful. The court process can get expensive, you are not guaranteed to be awarded your costs if you claim them from the other party and it inevitably leads to animosity.

Its also helpful to get included in the order what the house must be sold for, ie the minimum offer as otherwise you may have issues if one party wants to accept an offer and the other doesn't. I knew of one case where one party kept turning down offers and the other party had to go back to Court to get an order stating that any offers over X £ should be accepted.

Ooh thanks -

No I don't live there anymore and it's already with an agent. I just wasn't sure how much difference a court order would make. However, I will look into an order stating minimum offer to be accepted.

Thanks again!