Receiving a summons to attend court for a repossession hearing usually means that your mortgage lender has lost patience and has decided to repossess sooner rather than later. Whether you've ignored their requests for payment, or they've been unhelpful in coming to an agreement with you, you still need to reply to the summons and turn up to court – it's your last chance to get your repossession stopped.

Repossession stopped just in time

Your mortgage lender is simply trying to recover its investment. If you've missed a number of payments and the lender can't see how you're going to catch up, they will want to repossess your home and sell it in order to get their money back. When you reach the stage where you have to go to court, your lender has nearly won. You need to show the court that you have a plan for repaying the lender and that your plan can be put into place immediately.

Selling your home to raise money

The easiest way to raise the cash you need is to sell your home. Selling through an estate agent, however, can take several months, with no real guarantee of a sale. This won't be good enough for the courts or your lender, who both want to see the money repaid as soon as possible. What you need is a quick, guaranteed sale that will release the cash you need so that you can pay your mortgage off within a set period. That's what you get when you use Discount Property Auction to get your repossession stopped:

• Cash offer – selling through an auction site could get you a cash offer, because there are property investors with funding in place, waiting for the right house to buy.

• Guaranteed sale – in most cases, there won't be a property chain, and your sale will go ahead smoothly.

• Short timescale – the sale is a simple transaction between you and the buyer and, because you're often selling to professional property investors, the sale can complete quickly.

• Stay in your home – you don't even have to move out. If you sell to someone who is looking for rental property, you may be able to stay in your home as a tenant once the sale has gone through.

If you need help to stop repossession, contact us at Discount Property Auction. We're committed to helping you, whatever your circumstances. If you want to sell your home, you can use our dedicated online auction facility, which allows you to upload your property yourself and put it in front of genuine, interested buyers. Call us now on 0800 1313 999 or email admin@discountpropertyauction.co.uk to arrange a valuation today.