Vince Cable

MP Vincent Cable is warning that the sudden deterioration in the economy and in the housing market will cause large numbers of residents to get into mortgage arrears leading to repossession orders and then repossession.

"I am getting growing numbers of repossession cases at my advice surgery. We have all the ingredients of a serious problem: the Borough's residents have the highest levels of debt in the country; jobs are drying up; house prices are falling sharply; most people who bought at the peak of the market in 2006/7 are not insured with payments protection; and there are a lot of ruthless money lenders out there, especially those with second charges on property, who have no compunction but to put people into court and on the streets."

Vincent Cable explained that he was pressing government ministers to give new instructions to the courts on the procedure for repossession so that it became a very last resort: "I remember the disasters of the early 1990s when loss of job was often followed by loss of a home. The Government knows what it should be doing this time round: mortgage lenders have to demonstrate that they have offered every reasonable alternative including shared ownership: borrowers have to be given access to independent financial advice. I also want to see a system introduced whereby people who cannot service their mortgage are able to rent back their property - not from one of the sharks in the 'rent-back' business but from a social landlord like Richmond Housing Partnership, perhaps on a temporary basis."