Repossessions rise as government extends support
The government has extended its support to homeowners facing repossession, as the latest figures show cases are rising.
An extra £4 million has been put into free advice services for people who are struggling to pay their mortgage, to ensure they continue to operate next year.
Financial Services Authority figures published today show the number of new possessions increased 2.8 per cent between the second quarter of the year and the third, reaching 13,987. However this is 5 per cent lower than at the start of the year.
Housing minister John Healey said: ‘With the risk of repossession set to remain high throughout next year, I want to ensure we are doing everything possible to help.’
The FSA data also shows the number of arrears cases fell 10 per cent between July and September. Lending for house purchase continued to rise, accounting for 57.35 per cent of new advances, compared with 50.61 per cent in the previous quarter, and 36.83 per cent in Q1.
Three advice agencies – AdviceUK, Citizens Advice, and Shelter – have published a report today suggesting that repossession advice is not reaching everyone who needs it.
Research conducted for the Turning the tide? report found a third of lenders are not complying with new rules that require them to use repossession only as a last resort. It also found advice offered by court duty desk advisers was critical, with 77 per cent of people who received advice avoiding the immediate loss of their home.
Kay Boycott, Shelter director of policy and campaigns, said: ‘Measures to help struggling homeowners are clearly working in many cases but we shouldn’t fail anybody at this time.
‘The most common cause of mortgage arrears is job loss and with 2,000 people losing their job every day, we must close these gaps urgently to ensure every vulnerable homeowner gets the protection they need.’
The report calls on lenders to ensure repossession is only used as a last resort, for a review of the support that is available, and for more flexibility for courts.
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Readers' comments (1)
Joe Halewood | 15/12/2009 3:33 pm
During this and any other recession much more support will be needed and the nature of that support doesnt just extend to advice, it clearly extends to support such as those support tasks delivered by SP providers.
Interesting that government can find more money for homeowners but not for tenants who need extra support as well. Provider support teams funded by SP will also be strecthed further (and obviously thinner) because of recession yet we see no extra monies there.
Now that all councils want SP providers to become more and more tenure neutral by supporting more non-tenants then the inevitability here is that support to tenants will be less in time and quantity, especially floating support services and such a thinning-out of support can only deepen already assessed tenant support needs and the time taken to deal with them.
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