What Is an N244 Form?

An N244 is the court’s “application notice” — the form you use to ask a judge to change, pause or set aside an existing order. If you are a homeowner facing repossession, it is the form that asks the court to suspend the warrant of possession so the bailiffs are called off and you get a fresh hearing. You fill in Form N244, pay a fee of just £15 to suspend a warrant (much less than the standard application fee), file it at the court that issued your possession order, and turn up on the day with a realistic plan to clear the arrears. It does not wipe out your debt. It buys you time — and in the right circumstances, that time is enough to sell the property, repay the lender in full, and walk away with your equity instead of losing it.

What an N244 form actually is

Strip away the legal wrapping and the N244 is simply a request. You are telling a judge: something has changed, and I’d like you to look at my case again. Courts use it for all sorts of applications — to set aside a default judgment, to vary the terms of an order, to ask for more time, to bring a matter back before a judge. It is one of the most-used forms in the civil courts precisely because it is a catch-all.

For a homeowner, though, it usually means one thing. Your lender has already been to court, secured a possession order, and applied for a warrant. A date for eviction has been set. The N244 is how you interrupt that machinery. You are not appealing the original decision or arguing the debt doesn’t exist. You are asking the court to suspend the warrant — to hold the bailiffs back — on terms you can actually keep.

That distinction matters. People often think the N244 is a magic reset button. It isn’t. It reopens a conversation with the judge, and whether that conversation goes your way depends almost entirely on what you can put on the table.

Where the N244 sits in the repossession timeline

Repossession rarely happens overnight. There is a sequence, and knowing where you are in it tells you which move is left.

It begins with arrears and a default notice. If those aren’t resolved, the lender issues a claim for possession and the court lists a first hearing. At that hearing a judge can grant an outright possession order, or — more commonly for owner-occupiers who engage — a suspended possession order that lets you stay so long as you pay the normal monthly amount plus a set sum off the arrears.

Miss the terms of a suspended order and the lender can apply for a warrant of possession without another hearing. The court then sends a Notice of Eviction (Form N54) with a date and time. That letter is the one that finally makes it real for most people. It is also the trigger for the N244: this is the point at which you apply to suspend the warrant and ask for a new hearing before the eviction goes ahead.

How much does an N244 cost in 2026?

This is where a lot of online advice gets it wrong, because the N244 has more than one price depending on what you’re asking for. Here is how it breaks down under the current HMCTS civil fees (list EX50), as at 2026.

What you’re applying for	Fee (2026)	Notes
Suspend a warrant of possession (stop eviction)	£15	The relevant fee for most homeowners fighting repossession
Application by consent or without a hearing	£126	Where the other side agrees, or no hearing is needed
Application on notice with a hearing	£321	The standard “full” application notice fee
With Help with Fees (form EX160)	£0–reduced	Waived or cut if you’re on a low income or qualifying benefits

The headline for anyone facing eviction is the first row. Suspending a warrant costs £15, not the £321 figure that scares people off. And if you receive Universal Credit, income-based JSA or ESA, Pension Credit, or you’re simply on a low income with little savings, the Help with Fees scheme (you apply on form EX160, or online) can waive even that. Cost should never be the reason you don’t file.

One caution: the fee is paid when you submit and it is not refunded if you lose the hearing or the application is refused. That’s a small sum for a warrant suspension, but worth knowing before you rely on it as a delaying tactic with no real plan behind it.

How to fill in Form N244, section by section

The form looks intimidating and isn’t. You can download it from GOV.UK, complete it on screen, or ask the county court hearing centre for a paper copy. Take it a box at a time.

The claim number and parties. Copy the claim number exactly from your possession order or the eviction notice — get this wrong and your application can end up unlinked to your case. You are the defendant; your lender (or landlord) is the claimant.

What order you are asking for. Be plain: “An order to suspend the warrant of possession and re-list the matter for a hearing.” Don’t bury it in waffle. The judge should see in one line exactly what you want.

Why you are asking (Section 10 and the evidence). This is the part that decides your case. Explain what has changed since the last order: a new job, a benefit that has finally come through, a lump sum, a lodger’s rent, an accepted offer on the property. Then set out the numbers — what you can pay each month, and how the arrears get cleared over time.

Evidence. You can give evidence in the box, in an attached witness statement, or both. Whichever you choose, back the words with paper: recent payslips, bank statements, your benefit award letter, a repayment proposal, and — if you’re selling — a memorandum of sale or written confirmation of a cash offer. Assertions without evidence get little traction.

Signature and statement of truth. Sign it. The statement of truth is not a formality: giving false information to a court is a serious matter, so keep every figure honest and defensible.

What happens at the hearing

The suspension hearing is usually short — often ten to fifteen minutes — and far less formal than television would suggest. You sit across from a district judge, not in front of a jury. The judge will have read your application. They want to know one thing above all: is your plan real?

Bring everything twice over: your evidence, a written copy of your repayment proposal, and any proof of a sale in progress. If you can, get advice first. Most county court hearing centres run a Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service, and there is often a duty adviser available on the day who can offer free advice and even represent you at the hearing. Use them — they know exactly what that particular judge tends to expect.

The judge has a range of options. They can suspend the warrant on terms (you pay the normal monthly sum plus an agreed amount off the arrears), adjourn to give you a short window to complete a sale, dismiss your application if there’s no credible plan, or, occasionally, set the whole thing aside if the process went wrong. Turn up with numbers that add up and you dramatically improve your odds. Turn up hoping for mercy and you may not.

A worked example: buying the time to sell

Numbers make this concrete. Say you owe £9,000 in mortgage arrears on a house worth £240,000, with an outstanding mortgage of £150,000. The lender has a warrant and eviction is booked for three weeks’ time.

You have two broad routes. You could file an N244, offer to pay the normal £850 monthly payment plus £250 a month off the arrears, and ask the judge to suspend the warrant. At £250 a month it would take three years to clear £9,000 — feasible only if your income genuinely supports it. If it doesn’t, the judge will see that, and a suspension built on a payment you can’t sustain simply postpones the same crisis.

The second route is to sell. On this property you hold roughly £90,000 of equity (£240,000 value less the £150,000 mortgage). An open-market sale takes 16–24 weeks — longer than the three weeks you have. A genuine cash sale can complete in 7–28 days, typically at 75–85% of market value. Sell at, say, 82% — around £197,000 — and after clearing the £150,000 mortgage and the £9,000 arrears you still walk away with roughly £38,000, debt-free and with the repossession stopped in its tracks.

Here you’d file the N244 not to set up a long repayment plan, but to ask the judge to suspend the warrant while the sale completes, evidenced by your memorandum of sale. That is a request judges grant readily, because it repays the lender in full and quickly. The N244 holds the door open; the sale walks you through it.

N244 vs the alternatives: which route protects you?

The N244 is one tool. It is rarely the whole answer. Here is how it stacks up against the other things a homeowner in arrears can do.

Option	What it does	Best when…	Watch out for
N244 to suspend warrant	Pauses eviction, gets a fresh hearing	You have a credible plan or a sale in progress	Buys time only; debt remains
Repayment arrangement with lender	Spreads arrears over the mortgage term	Income has recovered and covers payments	Lender must agree; needs sustained affordability
Remortgage or product transfer	Lowers payments or releases funds	You still have equity and adequate income	Arrears and adverse credit narrow your choices
Sell on the open market	Clears the mortgage, frees your equity	You have several months before eviction	16–24 weeks; ~1 in 4 sales fall through
Sell to a genuine cash buyer	Fast, chain-free completion, repays lender in full	Time is short and equity needs protecting	Below full market value; vet the buyer carefully

Notice the pattern. Every option that actually solves the problem, rather than delaying it, involves either restoring your income or realising the value in the property. The N244 is what keeps the roof on while you arrange one of those. Treated as an end in itself, it just resets the clock on the same crisis.

When an N244 is the wrong move

I’d be doing you no favours by pretending the N244 always helps. Sometimes it’s a distraction, and honesty here saves people from losing money they didn’t have to lose.

If your income genuinely cannot support the mortgage — not this month, not next year — then repeatedly suspending warrants only adds arrears, fees and stress while the house you could have sold for a good price slides toward a forced sale by the lender. And a lender selling a repossessed home rarely gets the best price; they sell to clear the debt, not to maximise your equity. Any shortfall is still yours to repay, and any surplus can take months to reach you.

If you have real equity and no realistic way back to affordability, selling on your own terms almost always beats being sold up. You control the timing, you choose the buyer, and you keep far more of the proceeds. That is the uncomfortable truth a good adviser will tell you and a form-filling service won’t: the N244 is a brake, not a destination.

How a fast sale works alongside an N244

These two things aren’t rivals — they work together. The sequence that protects most homeowners looks like this. First, if an eviction date is set, file the N244 to suspend the warrant and buy breathing room. Second, get a proper valuation so you know what your home is actually worth — our house valuation guide walks you through it. Third, line up a buyer who can genuinely complete quickly.

That’s where a cash house buyer can change the maths, because completion in weeks rather than months is exactly what a repossession timetable demands. If you go this route, vet the company hard — our guide to the best house-buying companies shows what a genuine buyer looks like versus a broker who’ll re-trade your price at the last minute. Then, at your N244 hearing, you show the judge your memorandum of sale and ask them to suspend the warrant until completion. Lenders and judges alike prefer a sale that repays the debt in full over a drawn-out repayment plan that might fail.

If you simply want the fastest, cleanest exit, start with our sell house fast guide — it explains realistic timescales, what price to expect, and how to avoid the traps. And if the jargon around all this is making your head spin, our property jargon explained glossary is a good companion.

How to spot a genuine cash buyer (and dodge the rest)

Speed attracts sharks, so a word of caution. A genuine cash buyer buys with their own funds, gives you a clear written offer, doesn’t charge you fees, and holds the price to completion. Check they are a member of the National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB) and registered with The Property Ombudsman (TPO), which gives you a route to redress if things go wrong.

The classic con is the last-minute price drop: an eye-watering offer up front, then a “survey’s come back” reduction days before completion, when you’re over a barrel with an eviction looming. Any offer above roughly 85% of market value from a company promising a fast completion deserves real scepticism — ask precisely who is buying, where the money is coming from, and whether the price is guaranteed in writing. A buyer who won’t answer those plainly is not the buyer you want when the clock is running. You can sanity-check the wider market using our industry data.

Frequently asked questions

Will an N244 stop the bailiffs?

Filing an N244 to suspend a warrant, and getting a hearing listed, can halt an eviction — but it’s the hearing and the judge’s decision that stop the bailiffs, not the form on its own. File early, mark it urgent, and get to the hearing with a solid plan. Don’t assume the bailiffs are cancelled until the court confirms the warrant is suspended.

How late can I apply?

Ideally at least five clear working days before the eviction date, so the court has time to list a hearing. You can apply later than that in a genuine emergency, and courts can move fast when urgency is evidenced, but the tighter the window the more you’re relying on the court’s goodwill and availability. Sooner is always safer.

Do I need a solicitor to file an N244?

No. Many homeowners complete and file it themselves. That said, free help is widely available: the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service, a court duty adviser on the day, Citizens Advice, and Shelter can all help you prepare and, at the hearing, sometimes represent you at no cost. Take the help — it’s free and it works.

What if I can’t afford the fee?

Apply for Help with Fees (form EX160 or online). If you’re on a low income or qualifying benefits, the fee can be reduced or waived entirely. The suspension fee is only £15 in any case, so cost should never stop you filing.

Can I use an N244 to give myself time to sell?

Yes, and it’s one of the best uses of it. If you have an accepted offer or a memorandum of sale, ask the judge to suspend the warrant until completion. A sale that repays the lender in full is exactly the outcome courts want to see, so this kind of application tends to succeed where an unrealistic repayment plan would fail.

What happens to my equity if I’m repossessed instead?

The lender sells to clear the debt, not to get you the best price, so repossession sales often achieve less than a sale you arrange yourself. After the mortgage, arrears, interest and costs are deducted, any surplus is yours — but it can take time to reach you, and a lower sale price means less equity to return. Selling on your own terms almost always leaves you better off.

The bottom line

The N244 is a genuinely useful form. Used well — filed early, backed by evidence, tied to a credible plan — it can stop an eviction and give you the room to sort things out. But be clear-eyed about what it is. It pauses the process; it doesn’t pay the debt. If your finances can recover, use the time to agree a sustainable arrangement with your lender. If they can’t, use it to sell on your terms and keep the equity you’ve built, rather than handing that decision to a lender who only wants their money back.

At Ready Steady Sell, founder Lisa Hayes and the team have spent years helping homeowners in exactly this position — weighing up whether to fight for time or sell for certainty. If repossession is looming and you’re not sure which way to turn, get a clear valuation, understand your real options, and act while you still hold the cards. The worst thing you can do is nothing.