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The lengthy arm of the law

by: The Insider
  • 18/01/2011
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The lengthy arm of the law
In my job, we are regularly in contact with the Courts across the UK.

Whether its Possession Hearings to get Orders against a house, Application Hearings to vary Orders, Application Hearings to suspend Warrants for repossession and so on and on.

But whatever happens, the Courts generally favour the ‘defendant’ as they call it. District Judges have no great desire to see people turfed out their home, which is understandable. So they do sometimes bend over backwards to help the most undeserving of people. They’ll let them stay in their house for years without making payments because they uphold every single application made by those who know the system.

Actually, the reverse is also true, because they are sometimes unduly harsh to people who have been making payments and have genuine difficulties.

However, District Judges basically rule. If they make a Time Order ruling they can change the terms of the loan; ‘No, no, no, you now pay 1p a month. Order!’ So it pays not to irritate the Judges.

Regional variations are fun to look at too. If you want to get a mortgage and not pay it for years on end; do it in Northern Ireland. The Courts there have one Master (District Judge) for the whole of Northern Ireland. From us issuing possession proceedings to actually obtaining an eviction date, it can take over 2 years. Wow.

After that it’s a case of seeing if the house is in a ‘trouble hotspot’ i.e. do we really want to repossess if it’s going to be burnt down the same night by a load of paramilitaries? Do we want to ask for an S.D.U. (Strategic Deployment Unit) of 6 police cars and a helicopter to repossess a house and prevent a riot being shown on the news with our company name in the headline?

Outside of London, our highest numbers of repossessed properties are generally in the North West. Yup, in Liverpool – which is a disgraceful slur but there you go. Or how about the slowest Courts in England and Wales? Cornwall and East Anglia. No comment there either.

One area we tend not to get particularly involved in is Scotland. Very different legal system and structure and despite 10 years of roughly knowing how it works, I couldn’t begin to explain it properly. We kind of let our solicitors do their own thing up there.

So, how about the speediest, most efficient Courts in England and Wales? The Home Counties, of course. They want to get it all over with quickly so they can hit the golf course, the bar or up another leafy drive with a detached at the end, maybe even the wife.

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