What’s the repossession process in Scotland?
1. First letter
2. Second letter
3. Notice of Default
4. Pre-action requirements
5. Go to court
6. Ejection order

If you’re worried about your mortgage and the rules behind repossession in Scotland, We Buy Any House have created an article to guide you through the process.

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First letter

If you’ve missed a payment, you will usually receive a letter from your lender to make you aware. This letter will request that you get up to date with your cash. If you’re struggling to pay your mortgage, at this stage you should contact your lender and let them know that you’re having problems. They will try to help you and try to avoid court proceedings.

Second letter

If you do not pay your arrears or contact your lender to let them know you’re having difficulties, you will receive a second letter. This can come from your lender or their solicitor and will instruct you to bring your payments up to date in the next seven days. If you don’t, repossession proceedings will begin.

Notice of default / Section 24

After this, if you still take no steps to resolve, your lender has two options. They can –

• Serve you with a notice of default that will ask you to pay all of your arrears within a month.
• Apply to the court under section 24 and serve you with a calling-up notice.

A calling-up notice will give you two months to pay your full debt on the mortgage. Being served a calling-up notice will cancel the lease and order you to pay not only your arrears but your future payments that were agreed on the mortgage as well.

If, after the two months of the calling-up notice, you still haven’t paid, your lender can go through pre-action requirements before taking you to court.

Pre-action requirements

Your lender cannot apply for repossession in court before completing all the steps below –

• Given you clear information about the amount that you owe and your arrears
• Attempted to come to an agreement with you on future payments and trying to resolve before resorting to court
• Given you information on where to get financial advice and support.

If you and your lender come to an agreement and you stick to it, they are unable to take you to court. If you break the deal, they can continue proceedings, but they can only go to court if they have done all of the pre-action requirements.

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Going to court

You’ll be sent a notice that your lender has applied under section 24 to gain the right to sell your house. You’ll also receive an initial writ that will tell you your lender has applied to court. At this point, you can still try to come to a deal on repayments with your lender and avoid repossession, but if you don’t stick to the agreement, your lender can still take you to court.

Ejection Order

If the court rule in favour of your lender, they will then ask the courts for the right to evict you through an ejection order. If you do not leave by the date the court gives, sheriff officers can remove you from the house and change the locks.

If you didn’t attend your court hearing, or you weren’t represented, you can apply for a minute of recall. This will give you another chance for your case to be heard in court.

Once you’ve moved out of the house and your property has been sold, your lender will take what you owe them out of the proceeds. This also includes any legal fees incurred from going through the court proceedings. If you have any loans secured to the property, they will be paid off too, and whatever remains is yours.

If you live in Scotland and are currently struggling to pay your mortgage, you can sell the house and pay it off from the proceeds without having to go through the court hearings. Get in touch with us at We Buy Any House today for a free quote and see how we can help you get back on track.

We buy any home in as little as 7 days, or timescales to suit you. Head to our website for more information.

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