Mortgages Uncovered

Over the last 6 months the amount of tenants that were evicted by landlords who had defaulted on their mortgages has rise.

Some tenants have only been given a few days notice to leave their homes, says the charity Shelter, who want to ministers to “act quickly to give tenants far, far longer”.

Government legislation which is coming into force for April will likely entitle tenants to up to 7 weeks’ notice.

“What we’re seeing already is a steep rise in the number of tenants, entirely blameless individuals, who are becoming homeless because their landlords can’t pay their mortgage and their homes have been repossessed,” said Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson. “What the government must do is to act quickly to give tenants in those circumstances far, far longer to find themselves somewhere else to live, in a housing market where housing is in desperate short supply.”

Mark Sullivan, a 34-year-old jeweller, began renting in Woking, Surrey, in February last year, he said

“almost immediately threatening letters for the owner – who was un-contactable in the United States – began appearing. When we contacted a debt-collecting agency who were writing to the owner – because we needed to know what was going on – a letter stated that no monies had been paid on the mortgage for four months before we had moved in. Eventually I was given about two weeks to leave the property just after Christmas. At the time, we still had to wait for our deposit to be returned and find a new deposit for our new property and I had to borrow off my mother. The most annoying part of it is that the letting agency was so scrupulous with us. We were credit-checked and had to provide proof of income for ourselves. They don’t do the same thing for the owner, whereas we are made to feel almost criminal.”

Steve Donnelly took a 3 bedroom townhouse with his partner a year ago in Oakenshaw, Bradford.

“It turned out that the landlord had purchased two properties on the street but never paid a penny on the loan, and then went back to Africa while myself and our neighbours paid the rent for six months,” he said.

Ian Potter at the Association of Letting Agents said;

“We also had numerous people calling over other debts this man had, and even had a tow-truck turn up trying to repossess our car. Repossession agents started knocking on the door. The owner obviously had financial problems and as soon as it started happening we started looking to buy a house. One letter from the mortgage company addressed to us said we might have to move out within two or three days.”