Adztec you are in very good hands with Ell-enn. Please don't be scared of this. I have been to court to defend an eviction notice at least 6 times over the last 5 years. The judge does not want you to lose your home unless there is absolutely no other option. As this is your first time (well actually you have not even had an eviction notice yet!) and since you can pay some of the arrears, as long as you let Ell-enn help you prepare your defence you should be absolutely fine. Lenders have no reason not to try and kick you out if they can, but I can assure you that the judge will be on your side unless you ignore the matter. Get stuck in, defend your home, and I promise you, you will be okay!

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice please? I have spent the last 5 years fighting eviction for mortgage arrears. My lender, sub-prime, got in just in time before the legislation changed demanding more consultation before applying for a possession order, and have been pushing ever since. I was never more than 5 months in arrears but I have defended - I have lost count, but I think, 6 eviction notices. During that period they have raised their rate 3 times. I am now down to slightly less than 2 months arrears and they seem to be prepared to back off. During this whole period I have amounts of unpaid Council Tax because every Penny went to keep my house - I did not prioritise other debts over the CT and I have 3CCJs to prove it! Out of nowhere the council have now sent my employer 2 x attachment of earnings for CT years 2009 and 10 which combined will cost me over £400 per month since I just fall in the 17% of earnings level of net pay. I earn just under £1500 net, the mortgage is now £800 (£750+£50 arrears) which is less than they want but I think will be okay. The £400 will take that to £1200, leaving me £300 for everything else. Do I have any right of appeal? I notice that the Eviction Notices were always copied to the council, presumably for rehoming in a hostel or something, although I understand single people get no help at all. So they had proof of what is happening. My employer could sack me for this because of the nature of my job, and if they send further attachments for overdue sums in subsequent years I think he will, which benefits no-one. I am paying an interest rate on my mortgage of 7.75% which is in loan shark territory but obviously there has been no chance of re-mortgaging to a fairer rate with the arrears. Any thoughts please? I thought I was out of the woods and had emailed to explain to the council that I would be in a position to catch up now, an email they seem to have ignored, but with the outstanding amounts which include bailiff and court charges I fear that I will lose my house. My lender will not be sympathetic if I starve, will the council? I have not wasted money I have no car, never go out, and have not been on holiday for 20 years. Thanks for any input.

Hi honeybee. Ell-enn is the expert on all of this but I would just add one thing which is important. The lenders are not remotely interested in you or your circumstances. I have myself in the past tried to negotiate with my mortgage company, etc., the fact is that no-one there gives a damn. They are employed to get the money in. So as Ell-enn says, they will go for eviction, they are not interested in where you are living or what you are doing, they want the money they have secured on your property. I have wasted so much time trying to negotiate with people who simply do not care. The court is the place to have your say, and your presentation of circumstances needs to be there as Ell-enn says. They will listen to you (albeit briefly, don't expect to be able to run through your life story!!) and make a decision. Sorry to butt in but just sharing what I have learned!!

I get dozens of letters from Motormile. Literally. I think they hold two old payday loans, both of which are technically outstanding but who at the time had their money back many times over due to the huge sums of interest I paid. Motormile are always threating home visits, asking me to make an appointment for a home visit, passing it to their home visit department, etc. etc. etc. I am working through other much more important debts that these - even if they can even be classed as debts given the sums the original lenders made out of me. I might get round to them one day. I might not.

Nicolee I am very sorry to hear of the awful treatment you have received. I would like to make everyone much more aware of the nasty tactics of sub-prime lenders who since the banking crisis have simply wanted to evict any borrowers they have where there is even a sniff of being able to do so. This goes against the advice of the Council Of Mortgage Lenders and very much against the wishes of government of every colour, who do not want to see people losing their homes. Some of the grubby little sub prime lenders who were only in it for the money are now desperate to get out and will use every tactic in the book. They are bullies, pure and simple, who seem to employ the most low grade staff who seem incapable of either understanding, or caring, about the circumstances of the individual. At the very least, when the dust has settled, do try and find time to complain to the Financial Conduct Authority about this low life company. You might just get them fined - and the one thing they hate is paying out money!! Good luck in the future. You are a much better person that these nasty little loan sharks!!

Flexeh my post about this got off to a bad start because DX100UK jumped at me from the outset because he thought I was saying that I had received bad advice on here. I explained that I had not, but simply that I wished I had not taken the advice I had been given. I then found his whole style to be aggressive and dismissive. I felt like a naughty schoolgirl being told off for my stupidity. I felt bullied actually. So I simply went away. All I would say is, as a point of order, people who come here are asking for help. Not to be lectured to in a tone that implies that the author is way more intelligent and that you are stupid and are the instrument of your own problems. Eggy above understands what I am saying and the positive from this is that we have maybe publicised for others that while you do not HAVE to pay your water bill ahead of other bills, the powers used by some - we are talking here of Anglian Water - are capable of getting you CCJs, visits by bailiffs, attachments to earnings, and charging orders on your home, which can - and I believe have - caused the loss of that home. Water bills should not be dismissed as low priority since they cannot cut you off. AW would have done me a favour if they had cut me off!!! This may all be since privatisation, I don't know. But anyone who thinks that the water companies are sleeping giants is in for a miserable awakening as Eggy and I have discovered to our cost!

Does anyone have any experience of this? I have a sub-prime mortgage with Accord and since I came off their fixed rate initial special offer my interest rate has gone up three times - this during a period when base rate has been 0.5%. I now pay almost 8% but of course as I have struggled with the repayments, no other lender would touch me. The Financial Conduct Authority have now said they are going to be looking very closely at lenders who do this to 'trapped' borrowers while base rate stays so low. I have long thought how grossly unfair it is to continually put rates up when there is nothing trapped borrowers can do. Has anyone else had this experience? Accord tell me it is because I am a 'risk' but since I have a large amount of equity in my house I don't see how I am any more of a risk than anyone else. They can always get their money if I stop paying -meanwhile they have nearly an 8% return on their money - where else would they get that?? It would be good to compare notes in case the lenders in question don't take the very big hint the FCA are making!!

Oh hi Eggy, thanks for your response. I had given up on this thread as with the greatest of respect dx100 was completely failing to understand this issue. Did you say you have charging orders on your house? I am terrified of that as I have read that they will attempt to force a sale. It would be ironic and terribly sad if after years of trying to hold onto my house I lose it because of Anglian Water! This is the issue with AW - no idea about other water companies - no, they will not cut you off, but that is somewhat of a moot point if you have lost your house! I agree that the bailiffs cannot get what we haven't got. After paying my mortgage and living expenses there is nothing left for hideous water bills for water I never used but I am not sure what I can do to prevent them moving from bailiff threat to charging order? The bailiffs are very welcome - if I had anything worth selling I would have sold it by now! Sorry you are going through this too and I think it is very very important that other readers remember that while water companies cannot cut you off - they can make your life a misery and take everything you have got. Thanks again for your helpful reply. BTW xx

I had the mob handed approach from Eon for arrears of less than £300. I was out at the time but they turned up and terrified an elderly relative who was staying. She tells me they brought a locksmith (details on van) even though the meter is outside. Trampled the flower garden, laughed and talked loudly apparently, presumably hoping the neighbours would hear. Changed the meter to pre-pay and left a note through the door, even though I have mobility problems and have trouble getting to top up the key. Can't let me have a duplicate to leave with a friend, in fact couldn't give a toss! Nasty people I'm afraid. Do everything you can to fight them, but don't expect any sympathy! I kept in regular contact so it is a myth that they will back off if you talk to them.

Well DX I have had some brilliant help from the mortgage section of this site and against all the odds and - I have lost count - probably 6 visits to court I have fought off aggressive lenders and kept my house. I will always be eternally grateful for their help. I sense you are judging me on the water bills, so I don't really want to rake it up again at the moment. Suffice to say I live alone, I have no living relatives and the past couple of years have been a struggle that it is hard to describe. I think maybe it all got too much for me and in my ignorance I just believed the water was not a priority, and I continued to fight what were clearly incorrect bills, but I simply couldn't prove it. I am trying to get my usage down to nothing by showering and doing my washing at a friend's without a water meter but of course there are still sewerage charges even if you use no water. I agree this matter is my own fault, but I am a woman on her own and I did my best with the situation I found myself in. That's all.

I really do think the behaviour of mortgage lenders needs to be better monitored. Financial services is a highly regulated industry but for some reason mortgage companies - presumably because they hold the deeds of your house and hence all the cards - behave like dreadful bullies in cases of hardship. The Financial Conduct Authority need to examine their bully boy tactics as a matter of urgency. It is no good governments being desperate to help people stay in their homes, when lenders are taking every opportunity to get them out, on any flimsy excuse!

I don't have a thread DX and I am not sure why you are being so aggressive towards me? I have spent the last couple of years trying to keep hold of my house and also fighting ridiculous bills from AW of which this is only one, but I expect they are testing the water for the larger ones. Having read through this and other help sites I have repeatedly seen water bills referred to as low priority. So I put the mortgage and the Council Tax ahead of them. I think the low priority must refer to the fact they won't cut you off. In fact I have begged AW to cut me off to stop the high bills. The point I am trying to make is that this has got me into a lot of trouble, a visit by the bailiffs coming up, and two CCJs on my credit file which mean that I can never sell my house and get another mortgage even though I have decent equity and could settle all these debts. AW have quite simply ruined my life. And I just wanted to make the point that treating them as low priority is now the main cause of my distress. But clearly you don't like me saying that for some reason so I won't pursue this matter further. Sorry I upset you, that was not my intention.

I wasn't aware I was trying to lay blame??? I was just saying that whoever told me water was not a priority debt gave me very poor advice and has landed me in a great deal of trouble. That is the truth. Sorry if I should not have said it, but that is how it has affected me. I have queried the amount and the period it covers, but Anglian Water have simply given me a reference number and suggested for further queries I talk to their virtual assistant Amanda!

I haven't ignored the bills. I have been arguing with them for months/years that my bills could not be £500 a half year for someone living alone! They did eventually change the meter but not before the court had awarded them two CCJs both of which I tried to defend. I have been paying them back via a standing order but I had to stop it for one month and they have just kicked all this into action. I am going to have to stop paying the mortgage again to pay them I suppose, which means they lender will try and repossess again.......... Sometimes I wish I could just run away, let them take what little I have, and they can fight over it!

I do wish that I had not listened to the advice that water bills were not priority! Have been fighting the mortgage company to keep my house for several years and finally have this under control. I challenged huge bills from Anglian Water but they have obtained two CCJs against me, the first of which (just under £400) has now gone to 'enforcement'. Apparently if I don't pay up the bailiffs will be round next Monday to try and sell my goods. Out of luck on that one as nothing worth selling! Don't know what to do. But wish I had not believed whoever told me that the water bills were not a priority. They are now they have ruined my credit record forever, and have set the bailiffs on me!

Absolutey agree Ell-enn. I know only too well the elation of stopping an eviction (with your help!) but the individual concerned should find the time to come back and thank you but also to share their experiences to help others as they themselves were helped. It is a very long haul out of mortgage arrears and often people have to come back and ask for more help in the future. It would be very nice if people were as eager to come back after the Court case as they are to come asking for help before!! I suspect HTA had somewhere else to go, but he may come to regret allowing a repossession on his credit record and his house being sold for whatever the lender can get. I think perhaps he was never really serious about fighting the eviction as he did not seem very focused at all. But then I never had a choice, for myself I could have lived in a tent, but while there was breath in my body I was never going to let my animals down. I, for one, will never forget your support and advice when I was all alone Ell-enn! I have nearly paid back my arrears to the blood-sucking Accord, but I will never be able to pay back my debt to you! Thank you.

Am I the only one who gets frustrated with people who ask for help and then apparently ignore it? Apologies if HTA has been in contact via PM with Ell-enn, but if you are going to ask for advice and for someone like her to spend time helping you, for goodness engage with that help and do something!!!!

Tom I understand your annoyance at the charges levied on your loan, and you have set me thinking that I am going to see if I can reclaim any of the ones which have been applied to my mortgage for arrears, BUT I really do think you are losing sight of the major issue here. It is beyond incredible that Halifax have let you get so far into arrears with your mortgage without trying to repossess your home. As someone stated above that could be because they are making nice profits out of their charges but I would not risk this a moment longer. To be honest, although £125 is steep, I think Halifax are being quite restrained in sending an advisor, the next step could be a possession order and your failure to engage with the lender, or co-operate in any way could, I fear, go against you in Court when you have to plead with the Judge to be allowed to keep your home. Don't take your eye off the ball here. By all means claim back anything you can get, but make your no. 1 priority coming to some sort of arrangement with the lender to start paying back what you owe because they might just work out that a Judge might not have sympathy for your plight if he sees that you have just stuck your head in the sand for so long.

Fielder I know how hard it is and I am pleased you are keeping on trying. Part of the trouble is that the lenders and their solicitors make you feel utterly worthless, as if you are just a useless human being who deserves all they get. They have a knack of grinding you down by their utter indifference to your plight, or any sense of concern for you as an individual. You are just a number. Banks are scared of their own shadow these days and while they will happily lend, and lose, Billions of Pounds to big business and foreign countries, they seem to put every resource into driving their mortgage customers into despair. We are not bad people. We have financial problems. That does not make us evil, corrupt, ignorant, or anything bad at all. We are victims of recession, personal circumstances, greedy lenders, etc. I am paying nearly 8% for my mortgage when base rate is 0.5%. a colossal return on a secured loan with a huge amount of equity. But one slip up and they will do everything in their power to evict me. Fortunately in my experience judges see it differently and if there is a realistic chance of you paying back the loan plus a bit to arrears they will let you keep your house. But it does take its toll. I have been days from losing my house on more than one occasion. Never for more than a few months arrears, and always after keeping in touch with the lender. Completely at variance to the guidelines issued by the Council of Mortgage Lenders which many lenders seem to ignore. They are horrible people, it would be so easy to give up. But don't. You don't know how hard you can fight, until fighting is the only choice you have! I look back and I don't know how I did it. But I am so glad I didn't let these heartless bullies grind me down. And so glad I found this site and people like Ell-en. The difference is that someone is on your side, someone makes you feel that you are not 'nothing' and you have rights. And that truth keeps you going!

HTA - just to butt in again. I sense you are giving up. Don't! It is worth £40 to try and stay in your house. If you are repossessed it will make it very hard to buy again for a very long time. A judge will listen to a reasonable offer but you have got to get your head together and come up with one with Ell-en's help. I know running away sounds easier but please try and concentrate on what you can afford and make that offer to the judge. You have absolutely nothing to lose. HTA just to add. I defended myself from one eviction set for two days before Christmas, I have no relatives and nowhere for me and my animals to go, I had the flu. But.....Ell-en had given me the tools to defend myself and I did. If I can do it, so can you. Do not give up!!!

HTA for what it is worth I know exactly how you feel about Eversheds. I had the same issues with Cobbetts acting for Accord Mortgages. It seemed sensible to me to try and get everything in writing but they were just like a machine, one late payment and they were off to get an eviction. Sadly they have no interest whatsoever in your or mine circumstances, I presume the computer is just set to bang out an application to the Court for an eviction date if you are ten minutes late with a payment. I very seldom got replies to emails and phone calls were treated with abrupt disinterest. I do wonder if it ever occurs to these people that they are trying to take away someone's home? The trouble is that the people who do the leg work are probably not well paid, nor very intelligent - the huge fees they rake up, which you pay for, all go to the Partners in the business. When you apply to Court to have the eviction lifted they send along some sort of local solicitor who doesn't know you from Adam or Eve, and who in all probability read your case notes coming up in the lift! They will speak to the judge and try and make you look like the son of Satan, and the lender (if they can remember who it is) as the most kindly, warm and caring organisation who have done everything possible to help you stay in your home.......... Luckily in my experience the judges who hear these cases are reasonable. I have actually lost count of the times I have defended my home from repossession as the machine grinds into motion if I have been late with a payment, despite my writing to both lender and solicitor where I have had problems, explaining when they will be resolved. They are utterly heartless machines who don't give a toss about you or where you are going to live. What is odd however is that they are regulated by the FCA who insist in all their legislation that customers be 'treated fairly' - which clearly in most cases they are not. Just wanted to say I know where you are coming from and the brilliant people on here will help you. I am paying back £250 a month in addition to the £750 a month mortgage. It is leaving me with practically nothing to live on, but I have got the arrears below £1,000 now and they will be cleared in three months. Every time I can't go out, afford anything but the basics, or wonder what it might be like to go on holiday one day, it strengthens my resolve. Don't let the bastards grind you down! Keep fighting. You choose when you want to leave your house - don't let Eversheds' computer do it for you!!!!

Just an update on this. Have still not heard from the Court, Hillesden have 'defaulted me' on their £30 court cost even though they have never asked for the money, and Black Horse have finally responded and said they have reached a decision on their excessive charges - but want to talk to me first! Why I wonder? That actually contravenes the Financial Ombudsman complaints procedure - you are not supposed to try and influence the claimant. They have so far continued to ignore the PPI claim. Can anyone suggest what I should be doing at this time. I expect Hillesden are preparing their papers to get a charge on my house as we speak!

Thanks Andy that is brilliant help. I was worried that as the Court said I had 7 days to comment, I might be too late to have it set aside as I didn't receive the letter until after 7 days had elapsed. I have asked them to send a form as I wish to challenge the figure and asked what the fee is, but I wonder if they will reply - are there actually any human beings at that Northampton Court, or are they all machines? Thanks for telling me about the Court error not sending me a copy of the N244 - naturally if I had seen this I would have taken immediate action, thanks also for the reassurance that DLC can't simply get a charging order without me knowing about it! It is great to have someone to 'talk' to about this. Many thanks.

I now have a copy of DLC's appeal to the court. Basically it says that I have had plenty of time and Lloyds cannot trace hearing from me. This is nonsense because I have written to Lloyds on two occasions. I have told the court this in my recent letter and sent a copy of my most recent letter to Lloyds asking for a response urgently. Had I realised that DLC were moving ahead I would have responded to the Court, but all this went through without my knowledge. Surely if DLC were putting in an N244 asking for the stay to be lifted I should have seen a copy of this? Needless to say I have not heard back from the Court yet, but I have said all this to them. The CCJ is for far too high an amount and I am not sure how I can get it reduced? Also, as I said, if they seek a charging order will I ever even know about it? And how do I ask for a payment plan on the right figure - via them or via the Court - and do either have to grant it. Sorry for the barrage of questions, but this all seems so over the top for the size of loan and circumstances. That said I suppose Hillesden are about the most aggressive of debt collectors so it is hardly surprising!

Sorry, double post!