Repossessions Glossary

Calling date
This is the date on which the case will first appear in a court.

Calling up notice
This is when borrowers receive a calling up notice when payments on a mortgage or secured loan have not been made.

Continuation
The judge may decide to continue hearing your case on a different date.

Decree
A decree is an official order made by a judge to decide in favour of one of the parties - you, the defender; or the mortgage lender, the pursuer.

Decree of removing or ejection
This official order ends your living rights at the property.

Defender
A defender is the person against who the legal action is taken, ie, the borrower in the case of repossession.

Default notice
This is a standard notice that gets sent to all defaulters and gets added to the credit file of the defaulter. Diet of proof/proof diet/proof hearing:
the judge hears evidence from witnesses before making a decision.

Dismissal
if the judge throws the case out because of certain factors: lender followed incorrect procedure; the borrower made a repayment arrangement with the lender; or the lender asked to stop the legal action.
Ejection order or warrant of ejection: this order forces the borrower out of the property and allows the lender to repossess it.

Expenses
This refers to the costs of the court case.

Extract decree
This is a copy of the decree that the court has. It records the name of the case as well as the order made by a court and can be used to effect further arrests or to serve a 'charge' for payment.

First calling
This is the first hearing of the case in court.

Heritable property
This consists of 'real' property such as land, buildings, minerals and mining rights, ie, anything that cannot be moved. The old English law of Primogeniture decreed that this type of property be inherited by the eldest living son. Initial writ: this only applies to cases where more than £1,500 is owed and the writ details who is taking you to court; how they got to that amount; where the case will be heard; and what they want the sheriff to do.

Notice of default
This type of notice is different from a default notice - the lender sends a notice of default to a borrower before repossession proceedings are started.

Pursuer:
This is the party or person who started legal action.

Reponing note
A reponing note asks the court to hear the case again because the defender could not attend the initial hearing.

Repossession
rRtake possession of an item when a buyer fails to make the required payments.

Section 2 order
This court order could stop the lender from repossessing the property or give the defender more time to find alternative accommodation. It applies to homeowners, spouses, cohabitee or former cohabitee.*

Section 24 notice
Section 24 of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 states lenders should apply to the sheriff court to repossess and sell a property when the owner defaults on payments.*

Statement of claim
This is a formal statement of the claim being made against the defendant as well as the grounds in support of it.

Stayed
If your case is stayed, it is stopped to see how things work out. If your case is sisted for a year, your lender can recall the stay at any time during that year and bring the case back to court if you fail to keep to an arrangement you have made with them. Cases are stayed for a certain period to find alternatives to repossession. The lender may recall the stay at any time, however.

* Applies to Scotland only.