What is the procedure that banks take when someone gets into arrears with their mortage i.e. how many months mortgage payments can you miss before they start to take action and what action do they usually take.

The ultimate sanction is obviously that they could take the property back but of course the debt still stays with the owner Your UK assets can now be at risk as they could seek to reclaim their mortgage from you that way.
Locking the doors and walking away is not a realistic option.

It is near impossible to enforce a civil debt in one country where it is raised in another.

Up till last year, they could foreclose for two months' delinquency, AND take the house, AND force you to pay off the mortgage AND not credit one penny of your equity.

That's all changed now. They have to go to court and resolve it with you, try to find an acceptable agreement - you'll need to prove all your assets and income, any equity you have in the property is credited to you (minus fees and interests), no longer a generous "gift" to the bank for foreclosing.

On the Spanish property forums, someone is highlighting something called Vendor Financing, which may be an option. Basically you find someone who wants to buy your house, but can't get bank finance - they pay a deposit and then pay a certain amount monthly. In that way the seller retains ownership until the agreed price is met. I'm not saying it's an ideal solution, but could be worth looking into?
http://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/forums/

Not according to this recent article from Sur in English describing action being taken to recover debts for outstanding community fees from British property owners:-

http://www.surinenglish.com/20130425...304251242.html

I have sold one property in Spain plus a business elsewhere using that model to my and the purchasers satisfaction.

Read the article.

The UK courts are not involved, this is just lawyers locating and serving the summons on the debtors so the Spanish court can give judgement which can then be enforced against the debtor's assets in Spain.

There is a lot of scaremongering on here about how the Spanish Gov can just hope over and seize assets none of which seems to be based in fact. So far nobody can actually find anyone this has actually happened to though, not even a friend of a friend of a friend of a sister in law.

Just hold on for a while, and I can assure you that a regular will be along soon and he will tell you about a case that his sister-in-law knows about that it actually happend to.

If not, I will eat my hat.and yours too Jennie if you have one.

Isn't it so true that some people want YOU to believe total rubbish but why?

It could be like a bloke I met in a pub the other day who told me that his cousin knew someone who lived in Spain whose neighbour there had.....

Lol I will be mailing it across in advance for you, I give nice hat, you are welcome to eat it of wear it if you prefer hate to see a good hat go to waste in these worrying times, if the worst comes to the worst maybe we could live under it.

Nonsense. We've recovered debt from UK resident with no Spanish bank accounts. Took time and a little mone to trace him but after that it took about 3 months to get thecase taken to court and get the money. This was only a few thousand euros, not the value of a mortgage.

If you google you will find solicitors who will do the whole thing. From tracing the debtor to takig it to court.

Of course if they declared bankruptcy all bets are off...

I read it. "Once the debtor has been located, the legal process begins in Britain and is resolved in less than one year".

Frigiliana Freddy's post seems to support this. See this website, for example, which most definitely refers to "recovery through the UK courts".


http://www.wincham.com/dcs.asp

The EU has agreed a procedure known as an EPO -European Payment Order which came into force in January 2009 and can be used to enforce collection of a UK debt without the CCJ. The European Payment Order is only available for cross-border cases. It allows for citizens and businesses to use a simple method to enforce uncontested payments.

The important point to bear in mind is that the EOP is not, in the English sense of the word, a "proper" Court order to pay money, it is more of an invitation, which if not rejected, will lead to a formal Court order requiring the sum claimed be paid. Advice should be sought as early as practically possible, especially considering jurisdictional issues that may arise, which is a whole new set of issues to ponder over!

A reciprocal agreement in the UK means a UK Court can enforce a CCJ using the legal system of the other country. If there is no such agreement in place, a creditor can sell a debt to an agency in the relevant country and debt recovery procedures will commence under the law of that land. A creditor may have their own office in that country, or relations with other credit companies in that area.

The European Payment Order is under PART 78 EUROPEAN ORDER FOR PAYMENT AND EUROPEAN SMALL CLAIMS PROCEDURES - CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES

Link here:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pro...l/rules/part78