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Advising homeowners who Are at risk of losing their home due to arrears on secured loans is a complex area. With this in mind, it’s essential that you’re aware of the very particular problems that can arise when your client has a second charge on their property.
Advisers and clients alike need to be aware that when a borrower defaults on payment of a secured loan or a second charge the lender may be entitled to:
Over the last number of years, as a result of the economic downturn, there has been an increase in the number of possession proceedings against homeowners and social tenants who have fallen behind in paying their mortgage or rent.
January is always a busy month for our services as people make resolutions to sort out their debt and housing problems. Getting help can make a massive difference to clients facing repossession, even if they leave it to the very day of their court hearing. Last week, our adviser at court helped one vulnerable family save their home:
On the day when the Northern Ireland Court Service released figures showing a 20% increase in the number of possession orders granted, local advice charity Housing Rights Service says it’s concerned about the delay in setting up a Government task force to tackle the problem.
On the day when the Northern Ireland Court Service released figures showing a 20% increase in the number of possession orders granted, local advice charity Housing Rights Service says it’s concerned about the delay in setting up a Government task force to tackle the problem.
The decisions of the Supreme Court in the cases of Pinnock and Powell in 2010 and 2011 opened up the possibility of using a human rights argument when advising clients faced with possession action.
Nicola McCrudden is the Policy & Communications Manager at Housing Rights Service. Below she describes her recent experiences of possession hearings at Laganside county court.
Sitting in Laganside county court, Belfast, on a Thursday morning listening to a stream of possession hearings made me confident of the need for a pre-action protocol for non payment of rent in social housing.
Here at Housing Rights Service we do a lot of work helping tenants who live in social housing deal with rent arrears and housing benefit problems. There are so many different aspects to advising someone in this situation that I thought it might be helpful to look at some of the most important elements of a rent arrears case.
The Lord Chief Justice believes, in cases of social housing rent arrears, it would be helpful for all parties to be aware of the steps that the court will expect to be taken before starting court action. A draft pre-action protocol setting out these steps has been released for consultation.
We invite experts in the housing field to give us their opinion on a hot topic of their choice, they also have the opportunity to make three housing themed wishes.
Our first contributor is Professor Paddy Gray who gives us his opinion on the recovery in Northern Ireland's housing market.
