Repossessions may rise to 70,000 this year, the highest figure since 1991. No one wants to be a statistic. By acting early you can save your home from repossession whether you make increased repayments or, as a last resort, have to sell.  It's by acting early you take charge and stay in control.

Save your home from repossession

You may want to ask yourself why so much mystery surrounds how you save your home from repossession. The lack of available information on how it's done means you can easily find yourself backed into a corner. In the end you may decide you have to sell your property for any price you can get to avert what you believe is inevitable.  We're here to help you solve the mystery.

You can save your home from repossession. In truth it's you who gets repossessed but the process can be halted or frozen if you know how..All in the space of a couple of pages we'll show exactly how and give you the know-how you need to make it happen.

Where people go wrong

Homeowners make three fatal errors when they get into mortgage arrears:

- they don't act early enough to find out what their options are. This includes taking legal advice.

- they don't stay in touch with their lender

- don't appear in court appear in court because they don't think they can influence the judges decision.

To save your home from repossession you really need to get legal and financial advice early on or at least speak to one of the no cost information services. 

The homeowners who are most at risk from losing their homes are borrowers who fail to maintain contact with their lender, don't have access to legal advice and don't appear in court.  It's hard to believe with so much at stake a surprisingly high number of people don't appear in court. Historically this has been especially true in Scotland. You can help save your house by avoiding these mistakes.

The legal side

However you should know that things don't always work out out as planned.

Let's look at the facts.

The law is confused in this area. Strictly speaking lenders can seek a repossession order after only two months of arrears. But exactly how long it takes your lender to start legal proceedings can vary from two to six months!

However, there are also regulations put in place by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) which are supposed to direct lenders to come to a payment arrangement with you.

Recently, the Financial Services Consumer Panel (FSPC) which advises the FSA issued a statement noting there was a worrying trend developing.

It appears that some lenders are riding rough-shod  over the FSA's regulations and taking homeowners to court without making a proper attempt to agree some form of payment plan to pay off arrears. What's worse, the FSCP believes judges don't seem to be noticing.

The difficulty seems to be that the FSA's rules play second fiddle to the applicable legislation. The strict application of the FSA's rules require "goodwill" on the part of the lender. And of course if house prices are falling, lenders get more nervous.

Halting the repossession or eviction process

If you do end up in court and want to save your home from repossession you'll need to demonstrate you can meet agreed payments on your mortgage. This will include  a "top up" to cover arrears. The judge will want to know your plan for paying off the arrears is realistic. This is where it really helps to attend court armed with some form of income and expenditure programme for the months ahead. It's ultimately in your interests this statement reflects reality.

If you want to head-off your court day or eviction and if you have a solution, it is possible to "freeze" the repossession or eviction process. You can do this using a little known tool called an N244. This form is available directly from the court service and may allow you to save your house from repossession. Essentially this short form has the power to convey a special court hearing for you "on demand". The presiding judge, depending on the evidence you present, has the power to freeze the repossession process or halt your eviction until you've sorted yourself out. Get Form N244 and read more on how to save your home from repossession.