AQW 47198/11-15

Mr Chris Lyttle
Alliance Party
East Belfast

Tabled Date: 15/06/2015
Answered On Date: 24/06/2015
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Social Development what action his Department is taking to help home owners in negative equity.

Answer:

Statistics on mortgage lending continue to show encouraging growth in the regional market, especially in relation to the number of people buying their first home; and for households that can afford their monthly repayments and do not need to move, negative equity will progressively become less of an issue. Despite this context many households continue to be affected by the rise and fall in house prices, particularly those where the home is no longer suitable for their purposes.

In the first instance, solutions to negative equity related problems can be secured through dialogue with the mortgage lender. Where mortgage arrangements are no longer suitable homeowners can take advantage of transitional arrangements which allow lenders to waive affordability tests for existing customers. For households where the loan is affordable yet the home is no longer suitable for their purposes, mortgage porting can allow homeowners to move their negative equity to a new property. In both cases I am working with the Council of Mortgage Lenders to improve the availability of these negative equity products.

Should homeowners encounter difficulties with the mortgage lender Housing Rights can offer bespoke advice and speak to a homeowner’s mortgage lender on their behalf. To enable Housing Rights’ mortgage debt advice service to better support affected households I have recently increased their funding by 50 per cent to £340,000. This free, independent and confidential service can be contacted on Tel: 0300 323 0310.

More information on the options available to households in negative equity can be viewed at the Money Advice Service website:

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/negative-equity-what-it-means-and-what-you-can-do-about-it