Keys handed back - how long before house up for sale?

[Mark Greaves]

Does any one know how long it could be expected to take for a house to come onto the market after it has been repossessed because the keys have been handed back? I realise that this is a bit of a "how long's a piece of string?" question but here are the details:

I am not personally involved in having handed back the keys. I need to know because last December we were about to exchange contracts to buy a house when, instead, the vendors handed the keys back to their mortgage lender (Halifax).

Fortunately we were able to find rented accommodation at short notice so the sale of our property went ahead OK. So, we are now waiting in the wings as cash buyers with no chain and all the surveys etc… done on the property in question.

I have tried to contact the Halifax but they cannot tell me anything (data protection etc…). We understand that the eventual sale is likely to be handled by the local Halifax estate agent so have been in contact with them so they know which property we are interested in. We even drive past the property on a regular basis to check if a sign has gone up or if there is a notice in the window.

It’s been 3 months now and I thought we would have heard something by now.

Following return of the keys does the repossession process involve court proceedings or the serving of papers on the owner? I ask this because the owners emigrated to Australia in September last year so I assume this would complicate and delay any proceedings or serving of papers.

Any advice, info or experiences are gratefully welcome.

Cheers

Mark

[JagoPlasma]

tbh the house will probably be auctioned off instead of sold in the traditional sense.
keep a look out for it being advertised for auction, you never know you may be able to get it for half the price

[dalethecaptain]

Can your solicitor not contact Halifax and present your case to them, if the contracts were prepared you should still have some leverage? I'm sure they would love to mitigate their loss with a direct sale, as they will lose another percentage when it goes under the hammer.

My experience of buying repo property, they usually dump them in lots on regional auction houses on a quarterly basis, with the higher value stuff nearly always shifted through an auctioneers like Savilles London, who either auction the property in London or through regional centres in Leeds and Nottingham.

They usually sell don't sell the property before it goes to court just in case there are any loose ends. I don't know how it works if a customer has walked away from a mortgaged property. Unfortunately for you, Gordo's plan to protect homeowners means they have up to 6 months protection from litigation, so you may not get an opportunity before the summer.

Quite why someone would walk away with a sale almost closed is beyond me, must have been really bad for them.

[JagoPlasma]

Originally Posted by dalethecaptain

Quite why someone would walk away with a sale almost closed is beyond me, must have been really bad for them.

could be a few reasons. they had 110% mortgage on a vastly overpriced house which has lost 25% of its value.

perfect excuse to cut and run

[themilkman23]

Myself and Mr Milkman went to view a repo when we were looking to buy our house. We were basically told buy the estate agent that if we put an offer in on the house it would still stay on the market for 21 days even if the offer was accepted, it would also then be advertised in the local press that an offer of x amount had been accepted. Also if anyone else is interested they would need to put in a higher bid....sounds a bit like ebay!

I know this probably doesn't answer your question but just to make you aware really that even when this property does go on the market, someone else could quite easily put an offer in for it.

[Mark Greaves]

Thanks for the replies JagoPlasma and dalethecaptain.

Our solicitor did try contact the Halifax and didn't get very far - passed around various departments and being told that individual cases can not be discussed (data protection etc...). He did mange to get some one to say that our details would be added to the "case file" as an interested party but we have no way of knowing if that has happened or not.

Our problem is that we don't have any great detail on where the keys were sent and who is dealing with the case. Just got a PO Box for a Halifax office in Leeds and an 0845 number that usually switches to someone in India reading from a script. I have written to the address asking for any info on the progress of the repossession that they may be allowed to give me. Fingers crossed that reaches someone with the authority to answer - even if it's to tell me that they can't say anything!

You would hope that the Halifax would be jumping up and down with glee at the prospect of a waiting buyer and an easy low cost sale for them. I think however that the corporate mindless machine has started and it will get processed like all other repos.

I too am still at a loss as why they walked away. We do know that what we were paying for the house was still not enough to cover their debt. Maybe they thought it better to just chuck it all in and hope it doesn't catch up with them now that they are living down under?

Cheers

Mark

[Mark Greaves]

Thanks themilkman23

We are aware of the advert that has to be placed when an offer is received. I thought it was 7 days though not 21. Maybe it varies between banks and or estate agents?

Cheers

Mark

[JagoPlasma]

Mark, if you try House Prices you can find out how much they paid for the house and when. if you are offering less or even on par with what they paid then the owners would still be out of pocket unless they paid with a big deposit.

for instance we bought a house almost 12 months ago with a 10% deposit. so we are prob in neg equity right now even tho no one will sell a house round here for cheaper than what they bought it. so if i sold not only would we of lost out 10% but also a further 4k on mortgage fee's for selling early.