Enforcement and sale
Receivers have been threatened or appointed
What you need to know to delay or prevent unauthorised or aggressive attempts to repossess your property
What this problem looks like
- A letter warns that a receiver may be appointed if arrears are not cleared.
- An agent has attended the property, or written to your tenants.
- Rent has been redirected, or you have been told it will be.
What you are trying to establish
- Step zero: is this a regulated residential mortgage on a property you occupy, or a buy-to-let? The Pre-Action Protocol for Possession Claims based on Mortgage Arrears applies to residential mortgage possession claims and expressly does not apply to buy-to-let.
- Who currently occupies the property, on what basis, and whether there is a tenancy and of what type.
- Which power of appointment is relied on: the mortgage deed, or section 101 of the Law of Property Act 1925.
- The identity of the proposed or appointed receiver, the date of appointment and the deed of appointment.
- The purpose of the appointment: to collect rent, to manage, or to sell.
- The receiver's powers and, critically, the receiver's costs and fees, and whether they are added to your account.
- Your own plan: sale, refinance or arrangement, with dates and evidence.
Evidence to collect
- Every letter threatening or notifying appointment, with envelopes and dates where posting is in issue.
- The tenancy agreement and rent records, where the property is let.
- Evidence of your plan: marketing particulars, offers, agreement in principle, income and expenditure.
- Photographs or attendance evidence where occupation status is disputed.
- The tariff and any published receiver fee scale.
What to ask for
- The power relied on and the clause or statutory provision.
- A copy of the deed or instrument of appointment and its date.
- The receiver's identity, firm, regulatory status and terms of engagement.
- The purpose of the appointment and the steps intended.
- The costs and fees expected, and whether they will be added to the account.
- That the appointment be held while a specific, evidenced proposal is considered, with written reasons if refused.
What a useful answer looks like
- A named power, a dated appointment document, a named receiver and a stated cost basis.
- Written reasons for refusing to hold action, identifying what further information would change the answer.
What an inadequate answer looks like
- 'We are entitled to appoint a receiver under the terms of your mortgage' with no clause and no document.
- Costs described only as 'the receiver's usual fees'.
- A refusal to consider an evidenced sale with no reasons.
What this does not do
- Questioning an appointment does not suspend it. Enforcement continues unless the lender agrees to hold or a court orders otherwise.
- For residential possession claims the protocol expects possession to be a last resort — but it is a protocol about conduct, not a bar on enforcement.
Next escalation
- Complain in writing and say plainly that the complaint concerns potential possession. For residential claims, the protocol contemplates a lender considering postponing a claim where there is a genuine complaint to the Ombudsman concerning potential possession.
- Get free advice immediately: Shelter, Citizens Advice, or the duty adviser at court.
Example letters for this stage
- Request for the basis, powers and costs of a receiver appointment — Used where a receiver has been appointed or threatened, to establish the power relied on and the cost consequences.
- Request for an enforcement standstill while a proposal is considered — Used where a specific, evidenced proposal exists and enforcement steps are threatened or under way.
Official sources
Elsewhere in this archive
More on: Enforcement and sale
This is information, not legal advice
Nothing here is legal advice and no professional relationship arises from reading it. Time limits apply to complaints and to court steps. Free help is available from Citizens Advice, StepChange and Shelter.