IN 1996 the Northern Rock to me to court to re-posess my house this order was suspended it is now 2002 and i have fallen behind by 3 months on my mortgage.I have recieved a letter stating that i have fallen by the order and they will seek to pr- posess if i do not cacth up on my payments. How long does a suspended order hang over you??????

-- Paul John Bromley (paul.bromley@ukonline.co.uk), August 06, 2002

Answers

The Suspended possession order hangs over you until you have cleared the arrears after which it cannot be enforced.

Enforced means obtaining a Warrant of Possession which permits the Bailiffs to come and forcibly evict you - breaking down any doors to effect entry if necessary and using any force required to secure possession with policee help if needed.

If you are unable to bring the account up to date then there is still a small hope when the WOP is obtained and you are given an eviction date. This step is to apply for Suspension of the WOP. This results in an urgent and very short notice hearing before a Judge and you are more likely to succeed if you can show you can get on top of it and that you have family who would suffere hardship should the eviction go through.

Other alternative is to apply for Variation Order quickly before they get the WOP ordered. This will still result in a hearing at which you may be given more time to pay the arrears.

Treat this matter as priority No. 1 - all other matters come second or later - you are going to lose your home if you do not act to either secure more time or get these 3 months arrears cleared pronto.

Good luck

-- David Button (davidjohnbutton@supanet.com), August 09, 2002.

As an afterthought - when you got the SPO in 1996, did you ever reach a situation where your arrears were nil. If you did, then it might well be that the BS will have to reissue a Possession Summons and start the process they did in 1996 all over again.

Run a check with the County Court that made the SPO to find out.

And do please let us know how you got on.

-- David Button (davidjohnbutton@supanet.com), August 12, 2002.