Foreclosure in United Kingdom

Definition of Foreclosure

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Foreclosure :

A remedy available to a mortgagee when the mortgagor has failed to pay off a *mortgage by the contractual date for redemptio The mortgagee is entitled to bring an action in the High Court, seeking an order fixing a date to pay off the debt; if the mortgagor does not pay by that date he will be foreclosed, i.e. he will lose the mortgaged property. If, after this order (a foreclosure order nisi) is made, the mortgagor does not pay on the date and at the place (usually a room in the Royal Courts of Justice) named, the foreclosure is made absolute and the property thereafter belongs to the mortgagee. However, the court has discretion to allow the mortgagor to reopen the foreclosure and thereby regain his property. The remedy is unpopular: the mortgagee’s *power of sale may be more useful; moreover, if the mortgaged property is worth less than the loan, the mortgagee cannot sue for the balance, a point that has recently re-acquired significance.

See also repossessio