As anyone would imagine; being threatened with your home being repossessed must be one of the most stressful events imaginable, this is your home not just bricks and mortar, it is where you and your family relax, have fun and of course shut out the world.

A word of caution should this ever happen to you, DO NOT ignore it, it will not go away, you need to act to ensure that you keep your home and frankly the quicker you act the more chance you will have of keeping the home you value. If the worst case happens and repossession becomes an inevitability you will still have some options, let’s see what can be done.

What should I do first?

Contact your mortgage company as soon as is possible, if you can do this even before a repossession order comes (because you will know if you haven’t paid your mortgage) then all the better, however, if you receive the formal repossession order, call immediately or frankly proceedings will move very quickly. Always be honest regarding your current situation, lenders do not want hundreds and hundreds of repossessed homes as it becomes a headache for them to dispose of, so they will try and help for both of your sakes. Normally you can come to an agreement with the lender which will be beneficial to both and allow you to keep that roof over your head.

Don’t panic.

In normal circumstances proceedings would take several weeks to come to the stage of actually being evicted, so do not panic, just act, if you do as set out above there would be no need to have to go through a court hearing, it can be sorted with your lender. Of course, if it should get as far as court, the court has a responsibility to protect the assets which of course is the lenders assets as you are actually not the owner until the mortgage is settled. But even taking that into account, the court also has a duty of care for the community it represents which ensures that you can state your case.

If you act from day one by being honest and making calm rational dealings with your lender you can possibly avert any chance of actually ending up in court.

What are my options?

Discuss with your lender the level of repayments you can make, do not pluck a figure out of thin air, do your sums and work out exactly how much you can repay and still live. Your lender will ask for all your incomings and outgoings and between you, come to an agreement that will work for both parties.

If you cannot reach an amicable agreement, well, you might want to think about taking in a lodger for extra income, rent out your property for the amount of mortgage repayment. This must be agreed to by the lender in almost every case as it their property and therefore the “owner” per se.

You could sell your property very quickly though any of the companies that offer immediate cash, meaning you would be able to complete within a matter of weeks, companies such as these normally take care of the whole process from start to finish i.e. legal side, which would give you the relief you have been looking for.

What if none of the above work?

Unfortunately if all the above fail then the chances are you will have to attend court with regards to the repossession, however that is not the end for you, the court may decide to suspend proceedings to allow you some time to try and resolve the matter or the court may find that the correct procedures have not been followed to a “t” and that also will maybe give you a little more time. But don’t let it get that far, use all the resources mentioned above as theoretically if you do reach the courts there is every chance that you will have to vacate your home at a given time as court really is the final stage of repossession.

I have had my home repossessed?

This is obviously not a good situation to find yourself in because even though your home has been repossessed until it has been sold either at auction or privately by the lender you will probably still be liable for the ongoing interest on the initial loan, should you home fetch more money than the debt it has on it then of course you would expect to receive the difference after all debts on it are cleared.

Another point is of course if it does not clear the debt on the property you will still be liable for the remaining amount, and could be contacted by a debt collection agency.

Of course, this is worst case scenario and most repossessions do not reach court, the reason for his can be many, money is attained from another source, you reach an agreement with the lender, you sell the property. But as we stated right at the beginning, do not panic; simply act quickly and state your case and in that way, you are taking control of the situation instead of the other way around!

FJP Investment is a team of investment specialists sourcing a wide range of investment opportunities both in the UK and overseas.