Reposession? When do they kick you out?

[hammy0107]

Please could somebody advise me on the following.

My understanding is that as we are a family with a young child the OR will not reposess for 12 months, is this correct?

What then happens after the 12 months? Do they kick you out and then attempt to sell the property, or do they wait until it is sold to kick you out?

[abc]

It all depends on how you cooperate with the OR or Trustee if one is appointed.

It also depends on how much equity you have in the house, generally the first £5,000 is exempt so if you have less than £5,000 then they will disclaim any interest in the property ie you can keep the house as long as you pay any mortgage or secured loans attached to the property.

If you have more than £5,000 then you will be given the chance to find the equity from either friends/family or remortgage.

If the property is jointly owned then you will have 12 months.

If you have more than £5,000 of equity and you do not cooperate with the OR/Trustee then they can obtain possession/eviction and sell the property.

[MelanieGiles]

It is important to understand that neither the OR, nor private sector Trustees, want to see families moved from their homes, however their duty is to realise the assets of the estate and distribute those proceeds to creditors.

Under current insolvency legislation, the Trustee has to deal with his interest in a bankrupt's dwelling house within 3 years from the date of the bankrutpcy order.

In practice I have not seen Alan's £5,000 level referred to as an exempt sum - I regularly see the OR negotiating settlement on equity as low as £1,000, but what I do know is that a Trustee would struggle to get a possession order if there were to be no return to creditors - and therefore for that purpose £5,000 is a sensible deminimis figure to work with.

[abc]

I use £5,000 as "exempt" on the basis that the OR/Trustee is very unlikley to obtain possession if the equity is below £5,000 as professional fees including legal and agents could easily approach this amount. Furthermore, the costs of obtaining possession would mean your costs would exceed the equity if the equity is below £5,000. This is more a practical answer rather than strick law as your question was "am I going to be kicked out"