By Neil Merrick
20 August 2009
Families seeking help through the government’s £285m mortgage rescue scheme are to have their applications fast-tracked after just 15 were approved in the first six months.
Figures show that an increasing number of households with serious mortgage difficulties are accepting offers from housing associations to sell and rent back their property. Nine applications were finalised in June.
But the Department for Communities and Local Government remains concerned at the time taken to get applications processed and properties valued. Two months ago, Terri Alafat, the DCLG’s director for housing delivery and homelessness, said it was ‘taking too long for people to get through the system’.
While councils will continue to run the scheme, which was launched in January, the DCLG is setting up a central team to fast-track applications and reduce processing times. A public information campaign will be launched later this year.
According to ministers, other measures to reduce repossessions, including agreements with mortgage lenders, have reduced the number of households needing to use the rescue scheme. But 454 applications are still being assessed by local authorities.
Figures published by the Ministry of Justice on August 14 show lenders made 26,215 claims for repossession between April and June – up by 14% on the previous quarter but down by 32% on the same period last year. Almost half (46%) of claims that led to repossession orders were suspended under the mortgage pre-action protocol.
Separate figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that repossessions fell by 10% to 11,400 between the first and second quarters of 2009.
Housing minister Ian Austin said the government was doing everything it could to prevent families going through the trauma of repossession. He urged people to seek help through their council or debt advisers. ‘Lenders can only repossess homes as a last resort,’ he said.
At least five councils are running their own mortgage rescue or assistance schemes, funded by regional housing boards or through prudential borrowing. Wakefield has agreed emergency loans to 28 families since April 2008, while 26 households in Herefordshire have sold part of their homes to a registered social landlord in the past three years.
20 August 2009
Families seeking help through the government’s £285m mortgage rescue scheme are to have their applications fast-tracked after just 15 were approved in the first six months.
Figures show that an increasing number of households with serious mortgage difficulties are accepting offers from housing associations to sell and rent back their property. Nine applications were finalised in June.
But the Department for Communities and Local Government remains concerned at the time taken to get applications processed and properties valued. Two months ago, Terri Alafat, the DCLG’s director for housing delivery and homelessness, said it was ‘taking too long for people to get through the system’.
While councils will continue to run the scheme, which was launched in January, the DCLG is setting up a central team to fast-track applications and reduce processing times. A public information campaign will be launched later this year.
According to ministers, other measures to reduce repossessions, including agreements with mortgage lenders, have reduced the number of households needing to use the rescue scheme. But 454 applications are still being assessed by local authorities.
Figures published by the Ministry of Justice on August 14 show lenders made 26,215 claims for repossession between April and June – up by 14% on the previous quarter but down by 32% on the same period last year. Almost half (46%) of claims that led to repossession orders were suspended under the mortgage pre-action protocol.
Separate figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that repossessions fell by 10% to 11,400 between the first and second quarters of 2009.
Housing minister Ian Austin said the government was doing everything it could to prevent families going through the trauma of repossession. He urged people to seek help through their council or debt advisers. ‘Lenders can only repossess homes as a last resort,’ he said.
At least five councils are running their own mortgage rescue or assistance schemes, funded by regional housing boards or through prudential borrowing. Wakefield has agreed emergency loans to 28 families since April 2008, while 26 households in Herefordshire have sold part of their homes to a registered social landlord in the past three years.
