Can You Sell a House Before Repossession?

If you have fallen behind on your mortgage payments, your home may be at risk of repossession if you can’t bring your payments up to date or come to an arrangement with your bank. Many people may be facing repossession in the coming months and will be looking for a way to get out without losing everything.

We often get contacted by people who want to know if they can sell the house before repossession. The short answer: yes. The long answer: it’s a little more complicated, but usually you can sell your property prior to repossession. Generally, the sooner you start, the better.

Can You Sell a House Before Repossession?

If you are looking to stop a repossession or are already in the repossession process, don’t give up. Get advice and take action.

Not paying your mortgage – no matter what the reason – will red flag your account and can eventually lead to repossession proceedings. Even though you may have been paying the mortgage for years and have only recently ended up in arrears, if you don’t do anything, there is a risk of losing your home.

This idea of losing a home is certainly stressful and scary but there are usually ways out of repossession so you don’t totally ruin your credit or have a repossession on your credit record.

Educating yourself is key to understanding the process and finding a solution to stop the repossession from happening. The point is to take action rather than sitting back and waiting for someone to come and rescue you. Don’t wait until the bailiffs are coming and then start desperately looking for help. Keep control of the situation as much as you can.

If you are having trouble making your payments, call your lender straight away.

Homeowners default on their mortgages for a variety of reasons. Mortgage lenders do understand the hardships people face, especially these days, and they would prefer not to initiate repossession proceedings if at all possible. Obviously, they would much rather you keep paying them every month, but their main goal is to protect their asset, which is your home. Obviously, the best solution for all parties involved is to avoid this process altogether so if you expect you can’t make a payment, call your lender immediately.

Don’t be embarrassed, ashamed, or think you’ll just pay extra next month. One missed payment is all it takes to signal the lender that there might be a problem. Most lenders would rather you pay them something rather than nothing. If you can’t come to an arrangement with them to carry on paying then selling the property before they take it from you may be better for you financially as you have no control over how much the lender sells it for and if it will be enough to cover your debt. If they sell it for less than you owe them, you may still have to pay that debt somehow in the future.

Before it goes to court

Before a mortgage lender can repossess your home, they must:

• tell you how much you owe
• consider a request from you to change the way you pay your mortgage
• respond to any offer of payment you make
• give you reasons for turning down your offer of payment within 10 days
• give you a reasonable amount of time to consider any proposal they make
• give you 15 days’ written warning if they plan to start court action
• tell you the date and time of a repossession hearing
• let your council know within 5 days of getting notification of the date of the court hearing, in case you need to apply to the council as homeless

Finding a solution

Even if your mortgage lender starts a court action, you may still be able to reach an agreement with them. You’ll still need to attend court to tell the judge about the agreement, unless the court tells you the hearing’s been cancelled or postponed.

Defence form

If your lender starts a repossession action against you, the court will send you a blank defence form and guidance on how to fill it in. You can use the form to explain why you think the lender shouldn’t repossess your home. You need to return it within 14 days.

The court will also send you:

• copies of the claim forms for possessing your home, filled in by your lender
• a court hearing date
• the court’s contact details

Help with legal costs

If you’re on a low income you may be able to get legal aid.

Free legal advice on the day

If you haven’t got help before, you can get last-minute legal help under the Housing Possession Court Duty scheme. The scheme runs in county courts in England and Wales. It provides you with a specialist adviser on the day of your hearing who can:

• represent you
• help you come to an arrangement with your mortgage lender to pay off your debts

To find out about the scheme in your area, contact your local council or the court where your case is being heard.

Repossession orders

The lender can only repossess your home if the court grants permission. The judge could decide to:

• adjourn (delay) the hearing
• set aside the case, which means no order will be made and the hearing is finished
• make a repossession order

Delaying eviction

You can ask a judge to ‘suspend the warrant for possession’. This means delaying the eviction or allowing you to stay in your home if you are able to make payments again.

A new hearing will be held but the judge won’t automatically agree to suspend the possession warrant – it depends what happens in court. If you want to get a warrant suspended, get advice immediately.

(This guide is for information purposes only and is not to be seen as legal advice. You should consult a legal expert before you make any decisions if you are going through repossession)

If you want to talk to us about selling your house before it gets to this stage

Fill in some details on the form below and we’ll get back to you to see what we can do to help.

If you need to sell a property, we can help you.

We buy properties from people who need to sell quickly.

Give us a call at 0121 827 6125 anytime
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