Q: WE OWN a five-bedroom detached house and our older children have now moved away.

The house, some could argue, is larger than we need but we like where it is and feel it contains many cherished memories.

We are in our 40s and my husband is self-employed – but business has not been so good recently.

The bills have been mounting up and we have been late twice in paying our mortgage.

The bank is being very helpful but we cannot see how we can continue like this.

Must we sell our much loved home to avoid losing it to the bank?

A: You are clearly experiencing problems keeping your mortgage repayment up to date and are terrified of the thought of losing your home.

There are options available to you, but you have to consider making some sacrifices in order to salvage your situation.

The number one priority is to consider this: Do you want to sell your house quickly to eradicate your debt problems which may mean selling your home at a competitive price for a prompt sale or do you wish to keep the investment and look for different solutions to solve the problem?

One suggestion is that you could rent your house out.

This idea may jolt you from your comfort zone, but have you considered moving out of your house and renting it to a tenant?

By taking this option, you can have the best of both worlds.

It is understandable that you are comfortable in your house and would like to keep things the way they are, but your financial situation suggests you may have to sell or go through the dreaded process of repossession if things get out of control.

With the housing market levelling out, damage limitation may be your perfect solution.

It may not be ideal, but you could sacrifice one or two years by entering cheaper, smaller rented accommodation in order to gain in the long term.

If you rent out your property to a tenant on a 12 month tenancy, you could concentrate on your business and improve your financial situation bringing it up to an even keel.

When you can afford to take over the monthly mortgage instalments comfortably again, you move back into your home.

During a period of renting out your house to a tenant, you could decide to move into a two/three-bedroom house or apartment.

Other people have done this, so you can console yourself knowing you are not the only one.

You may feel that this approach would be a backwards step in your life, but the thought of losing you house indefinitely to repossession should help bring your priorities into line.

Ideally, you would find cheap accommodation for a short time, while ensuring your tenants are covering all or at least the vast majority of your mortgage payments.

This will result in a massive weight being lifted off your shoulders until you can find a way to increase your income to a sufficient enough level to return to your house.

There is no easy way to deal with such a troubled situation, so making sacrifices now will safeguard your investment and your home for the future and take away the sleepless nights and pressure.

I would however, strongly recommend you both consult and take advice from an independent financial consultant and a legal adviser before committing yourself to any financial decision or direction.

Please continue to send in your property related questions to clive@sawyersestateagents.co.uk