Repossession Court Judgments

1. Possession Order

An Outright Possession order in favour of your lender means you don't have the legal right to remain at the property beyond the date stated in the order, typically 4 weeks after the date of the hearing.

A request for an extension may be made if difficult circumstances, such as illness or other circumstances in which hardship can be demonstrated.

The court order means your lender has the right and the power of the courts to evict you, which does not always mean they will actually do it. You can always appeal to you lender to allow you to stay. After all, the last thing your lender wants is to repossess the property, they prefer that you eventually make good with payments and arrears.

What To Do - Call Us on Freephone 0800 043 2444
We can advise you as to the procedure and arguments that will give you every chance of overturning the order and allowing you to remain in your home.

Failure to vacate the property by the date stated in the possession order allows your lender to request the court to sends Bailiffs to enforce the eviction.

Only a Bailiffs (or civil enforcement officer as they now like to be called) can physically remove you from your property, and they can only be called upon in the event of the non-compliance of a court order. Your lender nor their collection agents do not have the power to remove you.

Given an Eviction Date?
It still not too late to ask for help, even if the eviction is only a couple of days away. Call us on 0800 043 2444 immediate advice.

2. Suspend Possession Order

A suspended possession order is made when the court judges that your lender should be allowed to repossesses your home, but not straightaway due to your personal situation.

You will normally be permitted to remain in the property if you stick to conditions set out in the order. Typically, a condition of the suspended possession order is you maintain mortgage repayments plus pay an agreed sum towards the arrears on top of this each month.

If you break the terms of the order then in effect the Possession order is no longer suspended and your lender can request the court sends in the Bailiffs.

3. Time Order

When there are secured loans and/or a second mortgage held against the property, the court has the option to lower payments by:-

• Lowering the level of interest on the loan
• Increasing the duration of the loan

This is called a Time Order. You'll need to inform the court at the hearing if you want a time order.

Time orders can only be granted for loans under certain conditions. This depends on the amount borrowed & when the loan was taken out.

Please contact us for more detailed advice specific to your circumstances.

4. Money Judgment

Your lender can request that a Money Judgment be issued against you.

This enables your mortgage company to recover the full sum owed under the mortgage, not just the arrears.

This is usually only happens when the lender knows there to be a mortgage shortfall. In other words, selling the house quickly at auction (typically for about 85% of market value) and taking into account expenses and fees will not recover all the money owed to them.

Money judgments can make obtaining future credit difficult.

5. Adjournment

Adjourning the case means the court considers that the case can't be decided at this time and a judgment should be delayed. Adjournment is normal for a fixed period of time.

If you have arrears you may have to pay off an amount of the arrears each month as a condition of the case being adjourned. In the meantime, you have the right to remain in your home and you cannot be evicted.

Reasons for Adjournment can include:-

• The court needs more information from you or your lender before making a judgment.
• You have requested more time to raise a lump sum to pay off the arrears and the judge considers this to be realistically possible.
• You are selling your home and require more time to complete the sale.

6. Dismissal

This means the claimant, in this case your lender, has lost the case. Reasons for case dismissal can include:-

• Your lender has not followed the correct procedure for bringing the case to court.
• Your lender or their representative does not attend the hearing.
• There are presently no arrears on the loan.

You lender will have to restart the court process from the beginning in order to evict you.