Citizens Advice
I’m behind on my mortgage payments and I’m worried about losing my house. What can I do? Your mortgage lender needs to go to court to take possession of your property. However, there are things they must do before that and should only use court action as a last resort.
They have to treat you fairly and give you a reasonable chance to arrange to pay off the arrears, if possible. Also, the lender isn’t allowed to start court action against you while you are negotiating a payment arrangement.
You can request to change when or how you pay and they should consider this. Should you make an offer, they have to respond quickly and if they reject your offer, they need to give you a written reason within 10 business days of your offer.
The lender also has to complete a pre-action protocol checklist, which requires them to give you information about your legal rights if you miss any payments and tell you your total amount of arrears.
They also have to tell you how much is still left to pay on your mortgage or home purchase plan and whether interest or charges have been or will be added and how much the interest and charges are.
The protocols require them to discuss with you or your representative the cause of the arrears, your financial circumstances and proposals for repayment, along with giving you information on the current monthly instalments and the amounts paid for the last 2 years.
If the property is authorised by an authorised tenant, they need to find this out. If appropriate, they also need to refer you to independent debt advice, provide you with the required regulatory information sheet or the National Homelessness Advice Service/shelter/cymru booklet on mortgage arrears and advise you to make early contact with the local housing authority.
Lastly, they have to allow you a reasonable period to consider a payment proposal from them with details you understand of how it works and how it will affect you. If they fail to complete these steps before taking court action, you can use the failure as an argument in the court, such as why you shouldn’t have to pay the lender’s costs.
The important things for you to remember are that it’s rarely too late to try and come to an agreement with your lender, you can get free help to deal with a claim for mortgage arrears and if there’s a court hearing, make sure you go to it – it may be the last chance you get to stop you from losing your home.
Our charity offers free, confidential, impartial and independent advice on financial issues. Freephone our Adviceline Monday to Friday from 9.30am2.30pm on 08082787897.
I need to find a place to live while I’m a student. What should I think about when choosing accommodation?
To make sure the property you’re going to rent is safe and affordable you should ask how much rent you’ll have to pay and how it should be paid, if your rent includes any bills and how your tenancy deposit will be protected.
You also need to know how long you can rent for – including whether you’ll be able to renew your tenancy or end it early and if you need to make payments before you move in – for example, if you need to pay rent in advance or fees if you rent from a letting agent. Be certain of the type of tenancy you will have. You don’t want to be left paying all the rent and bills if you are the last tenant on a joint tenancy.
You might have to agree to meet certain conditions or rules when you rent a property. If it’s shared accommodation, make sure the flat or house is registered as such with the local council.
I’ve got some debt and I’m worried about how to pay it. What should I do?
We’ve created a specialist team to help debt clients.
It’s important to have a plan for paying off debt and you should deal with the most important debts first – these are called “priority debts”. Priority debts are things like rent and mortgage payments, gas and electricity bills, council tax or court fines.
If you’re struggling to pay debts like credit cards, store cards or payday loans you can ask to make lower monthly repayments. Paying less than it says you have to in your contract might make it harder for you to get credit in the future, but this may be necessary for you to avoid slipping further into debt.
Write to your creditors telling them you’re trying to sort out your debts and asking them to stop asking you for payments while you work out what to do and to stop adding interest and charges so the debt doesn’t get any bigger.
If you’d like to speak to our debt specialists you can get to them by calling our Adviceline and you can visit our Debt Solutions page on our website for tips on saving on shopping, and energy bills and information on budgeting. Visit www.citizensadvicebanes.org.uk