8,300 people at risk of home repossession every week
05/06/2015
More than 8,000 people in the UK were put at risk of losing their house each week in the first three months of this year, according to housing charity Shelter.
The charity looked at Ministry of Justice figures for possession claims by mortgage lenders and landlords to see how many people had been threatened with repossession.
The charity also picked up on certain “home threat hotspots”, where homes were much more likely to be repossessed All 14 hotspot arrears were in London, especially Newham, Barking and Dagenham, were one in every 38 homes was subject to a possession claim, while in the boroughs of Haringey, Lewisham and Hackney, the figure was one in 45. In the capital, housing prices are much higher than the rest of the country, and the pressure for new houses to hit the market is the greatest.
Outside of London, the places that featured highest on the list were Slough, where one in 58 homes are at risk, Peterborough (one in 61), Manchester (one in 66) and Rochdale (one in 68) also made it into the top 20.
Shelters director of services, Alison Mohammed, said:
“These staggering figures show just how many people are fighting to keep their families in their homes, after dealing with the double blow of welfare cuts and a drastic shortage of affordable housing.
“We’re doing everything we can to give advice and support to anyone who faces losing the roof over their heads, but the government must also play its part by putting a stop to further cuts to the safety net which helps ordinary families stay in their homes.”
Need financial advice?
If you have any personal finance questions related to this news article, then please contact our financial advisers. You can get in touch by asking a question online, calling us on 0800 092 1245, or by arranging a visit.
Share this..
Related stories
Quarter of Brits 'would move overseas to save'
One in four first-time buyers would move abroad to live frugally while saving for a deposit on a home in Britain, according to National Savings and Investments' (NS&I) latest survey.Young people were found to be the most mobile group with one in four willing to consider emigration, even as far as New Zealand and Australia, while more than a third of people aged 25 to 34 would consider relocating i...
Read MoreWill UK property ever be as popular again?
At the height of the boom time for the UK property market it seemed that nobody could lose money and conversely at the bottom of the UK property market it seems that nobody can make money. Investor sentiment is very often based upon short-term trends and many investors can become blinkered with regards to the potential long-term prospects for the UK property market. So will UK property ever be bac...
Read MoreRent prices rise 8.9%
19/10/2015 Rent prices have increased by an average of 8.3% over the past year, as the average price of rent paid by private tenants rose to £816 in September. Letting agents Reed Rains has found that private rents have increase by an average of £48 a month over the past year. This shows a massive discrepancy between the cost of living and the cost of renting, as inflation has caused pric...
Read MoreIs the property stamp duty holiday open to fraud?
Lawyers around the UK have voiced their concerns about the government's recent property stamp duty holiday announcement which will see first-time buyers exempt from stamp duty on the purchase of homes up to a value of £250,000. As we covered in one of our earlier articles, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has laid out strict regulations regarding who can apply for exemption but there is even confusi...
Read MoreYounger potential homeowners concerned about short-term
A report by the Council of Mortgage Lenders has highlighted the challenges facing younger people in the UK who want to acquire their own property. The report suggests that 88% of those surveyed aged between 18 and 24 would like to acquire their own property within next 10 years but only 42% believe that this will be possible over the next two years. This perfectly reflects what is a difficult mark...
Read More