How long does a suspended possession order last

[m4ndi]

I have had years of living under the threat of almost immediate repossession from my Building Society.

 

I fell into arrears in 2001 and went to Court where the judge granted a suspended repossession order on the basis that I clear the arrears in a certain period of time, which I did.

 

Since then, whenever I fall behind by a single payment,

the letters from the Building Society and their solicitors come thick and fast and they send out someone to my property to tell me what I already know and, of course, put all the charges on to my account.

 

Within a few days of missing the second payment, I get another round of letters and charges and they apply to the Court for a Warrant of Execution.

 

Last year, I had an accident and broke my back in March,

as I am self employed

 

, I knew I'd have problems with keeping up payments until I could get back to work and wrote to them in April.

Needless to say I didnt even get an acknowledgement.

 

I kept up repayments until July when I had no money and was actually staying with family as I needed help.

 

In September, I was back in hospital, this time with pneumonia

- my partner went to the property and found a Notice of Eviction for early October.

 

He contacted the Building Society who (in view of the cirrcumstances) agreed to stop the re-possession on the basis he pay half immediately

- they made no mention of the rest of the arrears.

 

He paid this as well as the October instalment with another 400 on top but could not pay the November instalment.

 

Just before Christmas they wrote saying they'd applied for an Warrant again and one was issued by the Court for mid January.

 

I managed to get some money in which I was owed and paid the full arrears to bring the account completely up to date a couple of days before the date of Eviction.

 

At that time, I explained to them that as I was self employed and had had to have a lot of time off work due to illness I would not be able to make the January payment on time and it was llikely to be March before I got paid again

 

(most of my work is for a large firm of estate agents who have decided they no longer want to pay on time and are making me and others wait for months to be paid).

 

Regardless, I got the usual letters at the end of January and at the end of February saying they are going ahead with re-possession again.

 

I am currently waiting for another Warrant and hope that I will get paid in time to clear the arrears before the Bailiff arrives.

 

I have been looking at this forum and other sites and have a couple of questions

 

1) If the arrears are cleared in full

(which they have been a number of times and were in January this year)

should the original Suspended Possession Order be cancelled?

 

2) How long is a Suspended Possession Order valid for

- the reason I ask this is that my Building Society wrote in one of their letters last year 'we hold an unconditional Possession Order which is valid for six years ...'

 

If it is true that it is only valid for six years,

as it was obtained in 2001 surely they can no longer rely on it and the Court should not be issuing Warrants for Eviction under it?

 

3) If the Order should have been cancelled when I first cleared the arreas,

can I claim back any of the costs they have thrown at me since then (probably about £3k)

 

Can anyone help - I'm at the end of my tether.....

[tonycee]

Hi.

 

Unfortunately as i found to my cost,

a suspended repo order lasts through out the life term of the policy. I.E the mortgage.

I actually paid a solicitor recently to get this information

 

. However, if the arrears are clear, you can apply to the court for a notice of discontinuance. This means they have to start again.

 

If the order is unconditional for 6 years

, it means 6 years from the date it was re invoked.

 

I don't think you need to worry to much,

if you are back in work and getting paid at some stage,

it is unlikely any judge will decline an appeal against the order.

 

Our resident angel and life saver Ell-enn will be able to help you with an appeal.

 

As for the charges,

you can claim back anything that's not for legal services provided to your mortgage provider.

 

I.E. You can claim back their monthly charges/ charges for letters etc, but not their solicitors costs.

 

I hope things work out soon for you.