Mortgage possession orders increasing - and the Crawley Borough Council cabinet member responsible for Housing does not know what extra support Council staff dealing with Housing queries may need

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 27th Oct 2005

At Crawley's Full Council meeting on Wednesday 26 October Northgate Councillor, Gordon Seekings quizzed the Labour cabinet member responsible for Housing, Stephen Joyce, about the effect of the increasing number of house repossessions nationally on the residents of Crawley. Gordon wanted to know what additional support was being given to staff to deal with what must be an increase in the number of enquires from Crawley residents facing eviction. What became apparent during the questioning was that the cabinet member didn't actually know!

Gordon said "Maybe I should not have been surprised as the national figures had only been released that morning. However, as that covered the three month period up to the end of September, I would have thought that any increase in the number of enquiries from Crawley residents, should have been known."

On a national level Vince Cable MP, Liberal Democrats Shadow Chancellor said "These figures are deeply worrying. While they are at low levels compared to the early 1990's there are clearly big problems ahead. "At long last the Chancellor has accepted there is a bubble in the housing market. Now he needs to recognise that for many homeowners it is sadly bursting and that he needs to take action."

Vince went on to say "Banks and building societies need to ensure that when individuals take out mortgages they are fully aware of the risks that are involved and of the relevant insurance products. These figures demonstrate the complete absence of an adequate safety net in the mortgage market. The government needs to urgently look at the payment protection insurance markets as products are often over-priced and contain too many exemptions."

The relevant figures on mortgage repossessions nationally are:

Number of actions started in the ¼ to September 2005 29,991

Number of actions started in the ¼ to September 2004 19,359 (up 55%)

Number possession orders made in the ¼ to September 2005 19,687

Number possession orders made in the ¼ to September 2004 11,682 (up 66%)