Court costs in your mortgage repossession case!

Disputes arising from the amount of costs claimed by lenders in mortgage repossession cases are somewhat of a grey area, as it is down to the judge’s discretion on how he/she sees each case.

Generally there seems to be the assumption that the lender has the right to recover all of its costs associated with the repossession, which would be in the terms and conditions of the mortgage agreement but, if the judge believes that the lender has not followed the mortgage repossession procedure correctly, then they may decide to impose a penalty on the lender and not award all (or some) of the costs that the lender is claiming.

Most lenders will employ a solicitor or have their own in-house solicitor to represent them at the court hearing and these costs usually make up the bulk of the fees, which are usually a “set fee” except for more complicated cases where the costs would be much higher.

You can however, object to the costs being claimed against you if you feel that the lender has acted inappropriately or have their facts wrong, but you must be able to back this up and be in a position to provide evidence that this is the case on the day as you may find that the judge will adjourn the case for a future date, which will incur further costs and could result in you be penalised financially for wasting the courts time.

Ultimately, whatever the judge decides is a reasonable cost for the repossession case, it is possible that you won’t actually be handed a bill and that rather the costs will probably be added to the total debt. 

Something to bear in mind should you find yourself being served with a court hearing for the repossession of your home.