I have sent out a Press Release
A moratorium on repossessions would make the housing crisis worse
Brendan Burgess
Séamus Coffey
Karl Deeter
The Housing and Homelessness Committee seems to believe that there are widespread repossessions of homes occupied by responsible families who are in financial difficulties and that the lenders are doing nothing about it.
This is simply not true.
The writers have attended over 4,000 appearances in the repossession courts and we have been present when 151 orders for possession were granted. Here are our results:
Profile of the 151 orders granted
A borrower can avoid repossession by making regular payments (not necessarily the full amount), by engaging with the lender and by showing up in court.
At least 20% of the homes subject to court proceedings are empty. With 10,000 proceedings in the system, that would be at least 2,000 houses.
However, there are around 30,000 mortgages in arrears over two years. If 20% of these are abandoned properties, there would be 6,000 abandoned houses which the lenders can’t repossess.
The system should be changed so that vacant and abandoned houses can be repossessed more quickly and put back into use as soon as possible, while continuing to protect borrowers who are living in their homes and who are acting responsibly.
The members of the Housing Committee should attend a hearing of their local Registrar’s Court to see for themselves the true picture.
A moratorium on repossessions would also exacerbate the arrears problem
During 2015, 48,000 mortgages were restructured by lenders.
This is ten times the number of legal proceedings issued against borrowers for repossessions – 4,088.
Where a borrower engages with the lender and pays something, they will get a restructuring. Legal proceedings are issued only where the borrower is paying little or nothing and not engaging. If a moratorium were introduced, many borrowers would stop paying their mortgage and so their situation would get worse. Arrears problems which are addressed early, are much easier to solve and restructure
Additional points
Repossessing an occupied family home does not make the overall housing crisis worse. Of course, it means that the family have to find another home, but it frees up a home for someone else who is prepared to pay their mortgage or rent.
It is an outrageous exaggeration to suggest that 100,000 mortgages face losing their home. There are around 11,000 legal proceedings before the court. Last year, 918 orders for possession were granted. While, up to a further 4,000 lost ownership of their homes either through voluntary sale or voluntary surrender, the 100,000 figure is a gross exaggeration.
