Mortgage repossession in England and Wales

Repossession is when a mortgage company takes your home because you have not paid what you owe¹. In England and Wales it is not something a lender can simply do: they must go to court, and a judge decides whether they can repossess your home at all². Lenders will only start court action as a last resort³, and the rules that govern them say they must not repossess unless all other reasonable attempts to resolve the position have failed⁴.

The process takes time. Official statistics for April to June 2026 show the median time from a lender issuing a claim to actual repossession was 49.1 weeks in England and Wales, up from 42.9 weeks in the same period a year earlier⁵. That time exists so that arrears can be sorted out, and in many cases they are: a court can often stop repossession if you show you can repay the arrears by the end of the mortgage term⁶.

Repossession is a last resort for lenders

Lenders treat repossession as a last resort, and the rules back that up. StepChange describes repossession as always a last resort¹⁰, and the Financial Conduct Authority's mortgage rules state that a firm must not repossess the property unless all other reasonable attempts to resolve the position have failed⁴. Before going to court, a lender must consider any reasonable request from you to change how you pay your mortgage¹¹, and may postpone repossession action if you make a claim on a mortgage payment protection policy¹¹.

Government guidance is the same: if you miss your mortgage repayments and cannot agree a repayment plan, your mortgage lender might start court action to repossess your home¹². The word "might" matters. Court action is the end of a process, not the start, and the steps before it are where most cases are resolved.

The threshold for court action has also changed. Which? notes that lenders could previously start repossession orders after three months of arrears¹³. The FCA's rules now require firms to work through forbearance options with a customer before repossession is on the table. Where it is appropriate, and with the customer's agreement, a firm may extend the mortgage term, change its type, waive or defer payment of capital or interest, reduce the interest rate or apply simple interest instead of compound interest, treat a payment shortfall as if it was part of the original amount provided, or make use of any Government forbearance initiatives⁴.

A separate FCA rule covers borrowers whose mortgage term has expired with a balance still outstanding: firms must deal with these customers fairly and not take repossession action unless all other reasonable attempts to resolve the position have failed⁴. The same repossession rules apply across the FCA's mortgage sourcebook, including to home purchase plans⁴.

The court hearing and what a judge can do

A lender cannot take your home without a court order. At a court repossession hearing a judge decides if your mortgage lender can repossess your home². You do not have to face that hearing alone: free advice is available on the day at court duty advice desks, though Shelter Cymru warns that if you arrive late, the court may already have made an order to repossess your home².

The judge's powers come from the Administration of Justice Act 1970. Under section 36, any adjournment, stay, suspension or postponement the court grants may be made subject to conditions with regard to payment by the borrower of any sum secured by the mortgage, or the remedying of any default, as the court thinks fit¹⁵. In plain terms, the judge can pause or halt the repossession and attach terms to it.

The main orders a judge can make are covered in detail on possession orders explained, but in outline:

One further protection applies where the home is rented: under the Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010, the court may, on the application of a tenant, stay or suspend execution of a possession order, or postpone the date for delivery of possession, for a period not exceeding two months, and may make that conditional on payments to the mortgagee for occupation of the property¹⁷. Tenants of a landlord whose lender is repossessing have their own page at renting a home your landlord's lender is repossessing.

Suspended possession order: keeping your home on the court's terms

A suspended possession order allows you to stay in your home on terms set by the court, paying a set amount on top of your normal monthly mortgage payment⁷. If the judge made a suspended possession order, you can stay in your home as long as you keep to certain conditions as ordered by the court¹⁶. The order is still a possession order: the lender's right to take the home exists, but it cannot be carried out while the conditions are met.

The conditions are set by the court, not by the lender. A court can make a suspended possession order if you can keep to a repayment plan, for example by paying £50 a month on top of the normal mortgage payment¹⁸. The court's power to attach conditions comes directly from the legislation: any adjournment, stay, suspension or postponement may be made subject to conditions with regard to payment by the borrower of any sum secured by the mortgage¹⁵.

What this looks like in practice:

• You keep paying your normal monthly mortgage payment⁷
• You pay an additional amount set by the court towards the arrears⁷
• You follow any other terms the court sets³
• As long as you do, the lender cannot send bailiffs¹⁶

The judge decides how long to delay repossession for, and it could be anything up to a year¹⁹. But the order itself can last much longer: many suspended orders run until the arrears are cleared, which can take years, because the court can often stop repossession of your home if you show that you can repay the arrears by the end of the mortgage term⁶.

What a suspended possession order usually asks you to pay

In many cases, the order will say that you have to pay a certain amount off your arrears each month on top of your monthly mortgage payments¹⁶. You will probably have to pay a set amount towards your mortgage, and you usually have to do this even if you cannot afford your full payments¹⁹. That sounds harsh, but it reflects the court's task: the judge is weighing whether the arrears can realistically be cleared within the mortgage term, and a smaller regular payment may still achieve that.

The size of the monthly amount depends on what the court hears about your income and spending, which is why turning up to the hearing with a budget, and with advice from a court duty desk, matters². The example Shelter gives is £50 a month on top of the normal mortgage payment¹⁸, but the figure in any real case is set by the judge from the evidence.

Two things are worth checking when an order is made:

• What exactly is ordered, and by what date each month. The order's wording is what a lender will rely on if payments are missed¹⁶
• Whether the amount is affordable if your income drops. If it is not, the answer is to apply to vary the order before a payment is missed, not after¹⁶

If you can repay the arrears by the end of the mortgage term, a court can often stop repossession altogether⁶, so the payment plan you propose at the hearing is the heart of the case.

Missing a payment under a suspended possession order

This is the sharpest edge of a suspended order. If you miss even one payment, or pay less than the sums ordered, your lender can apply to the court for a bailiff's warrant straight away, there isn't normally another hearing, and you may only get a few days' warning before the bailiffs arrive to evict you¹⁶.

The contrast with ordinary arrears is stark. Before any court action, a lender must consider reasonable requests to change how you pay¹¹ and might start court action only if no repayment plan can be agreed¹². After a suspended order, the court has already decided the terms, and breach hands the lender a fast route to a warrant.

The financial consequences also continue after possession. If your home is repossessed or you hand over the keys to your lender, you will still be responsible for your mortgage payments until the home is sold, and this will include any arrears, ongoing mortgage and interest payments, buildings insurance, and penalty charges for missed payments²⁰.

Changing the terms of an order

Circumstances change, and an order can change with them. If you want to change the conditions of an order, you will need to apply to the court and may have to pay a fee¹⁶. The application is made on form N244, which has its own guide at using form N244 to stop mortgage repossession.

The fees, from official guidance dated April 2026:

Court fee remission may be available depending on your income and benefits, and the free advice services listed at the end of this page can help you check.

On the lender's side, the FCA's rules govern how a mortgage can be varied. Changes that may not be treated as immaterial to affordability include a term extension into the customer's retirement, changing between repayment and interest-only, and the addition or removal of a customer²². A variation which reduces the term of the contract is treated differently: the firm must consider affordability in line with the Consumer Duty and its responsible lending policy²². These rules matter to a borrower in arrears because extending the term or switching to interest-only are among the options a lender can use to make the mortgage affordable again⁴.

Selling your home to avoid repossession

Selling the home yourself is often better financially than letting the lender repossess and sell it, because you control the timing, the agent and the price. Shelter's guidance on selling your home to avoid repossession notes that the judge decides how long to delay repossession for, and it could be anything up to a year, which can give time to sell¹⁹. The sale proceeds pay off the mortgage, and if anything is left, it is yours rather than going to the lender.

There are schemes that can help avoid the sale altogether. Local authority mortgage rescue schemes exist to help homeowners avoid mortgage repossession if it is likely that otherwise the homeowner will be homeless, and one test of eligibility is that your lender intends to repossess your home²³. Some local authorities in Wales provide mortgage rescue schemes that can help struggling homeowners avoid repossession¹³. In Scotland, if you are at risk of having your home repossessed, the Home Owners' Support Fund may be able to help²⁴, though that fund is covered on its own page and does not apply in England and Wales.

Selling is not always straightforward. If the home is worth less than the mortgage, you are selling into negative equity, and the sale may not clear the debt: see can I sell my house if it is in negative equity?. And if you are considering handing the keys back instead, read should I hand back the keys to my lender? first, because handing back the keys does not end your liability²⁰.

Mortgage shortfall debt: what you still owe after a sale

Repossession does not always end the debt. If your home is sold for less than you owe, the lender may want you to pay back the rest, which is the mortgage shortfall¹⁴. In the words of National Debtline, money you still owe to your mortgage or secured loan lender when the amount your home is sold for is not enough to pay the outstanding mortgage and any secured loans is called a mortgage shortfall²⁵.

The shortfall can be larger than people expect because it is not just the balance on the day of possession:

• Any arrears, ongoing mortgage and interest payments, buildings insurance and penalty charges for missed payments, for which you remain responsible until the home is sold²⁰
• The monthly instalments and interest added while your property is being sold²⁶
• Legal costs and estate agency fees, where the sale is being handled by your lender²⁶

Until the house is sold, you are liable for these costs, as well as legal and estate agent's fees²⁵. The debt may be held by your former lender, by someone acting on their behalf, or by a debt collection company that has bought the debt from the lender²⁶. You will still owe money to your lender or mortgage indemnity insurer if the sale does not cover your debt¹⁸.

Whether the shortfall is a priority depends on what happens next. In most cases, if no court action has been taken, mortgage shortfall debts can be treated as non-priority debts²⁵. But a non-priority debt can become a priority if the company you owe money to gets a county court judgment against you and you do not pay, because the company can get a charging order which puts your home at risk of repossession⁶. The sub-page do I still owe a mortgage shortfall after repossession? goes further into this.

Time limits on recovering a shortfall: 12 years in England and Wales

A lender does not have unlimited time to chase a shortfall. The limitation period for mortgage shortfalls in England and Wales is twelve years for the capital, the money you borrowed, and six years for the interest part of the shortfall⁸. Mortgage lenders may try to recover a mortgage shortfall for up to 12 years²⁷, and the recovery period on shortfalls through the courts is twelve years²⁸.

The clock usually starts early. The cause of action, when the limitation period starts running, for mortgage shortfalls is usually when the lender is entitled to be repaid in full, usually after two or three missed payments⁸. If the lender has made contact with you during the 12-year period, this can affect the time the creditor has to take you to court²⁸.

The limits are different in Scotland: for the capital part of a mortgage shortfall debt, the lender has 20 years to use court action to make you pay, and for the interest part, 5 years²⁹. The Scottish process is covered at repossession in Scotland.

Separately from the limitation period, the credit file record is shorter. If you have fallen behind with your mortgage, this will show as a default on your credit file and will stay on there for six years²⁵. Details stay on the credit reference agency's files for six years from the date the default was registered²⁷, and it will be recorded on your credit file for six years²⁸. A shortfall that becomes agreed arrears, for example under a reduced payment arrangement during illness, can be recorded on the consumer's credit file²⁶. See also how long do mortgage arrears stay on your credit file?.

Free help from Citizens Advice and Shelter

Repossession is exactly the situation free advice exists for, and using it early changes outcomes: the court duty advice desks alone can make the difference at a hearing².

Citizens Advice provides free and confidential advice about people's rights and responsibilities⁹. Citizens Advice started in 1939 as an emergency war service, and there are over 500 Citizens Advice centres in the UK today⁹. Advice is offered face to face, over the phone on 0808 223 1133, and by email, covering debt advice, employment, housing, benefits, tax credits and immigration issues⁹. The Citizens Advice website offers advice to people living in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland⁹.

Shelter covers England, Wales and Scotland, though there are separate organisations for England, Scotland and Wales³⁰. The helpline numbers are 0808 800 4444 for England or Scotland, 08000 495 495 for Wales, and Citizens Advice can be reached on 0800 144 8848 in England, 0800 702 2020 in Wales and 0800 028 1456 in Scotland³¹.

Other free support:

• The Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service offers free legal support for homeowners whose home is at risk, and can advise on illegal eviction, rent arrears, mortgage arrears, issues with welfare benefits payments, debt concerns, and disrepair and other problems with housing conditions³²
• StepChange offers further support on housing, and Shelter operates as separate organisations for England, Scotland and Wales³⁰
• Local authority mortgage rescue schemes can help where the lender intends to repossess²³

If the complaint is about how the lender has handled the arrears or the sale, the Financial Ombudsman can look at it, including at shortfall debts and arrears charges²⁶. And if borrowing again is on your mind later, borrowing again after a repossession explains what lenders will see.