Home repossession "should be very last resort"

10.08.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 19th Oct 2008

Cllr Dave Radcliffe: Repossession of homes should be the last resort.

Repossession of homes by banks should be an absolute last resort, say Liberal Democrat campaigners in Birmingham.

Selly Oak Councillor Dave Radcliffe has backed calls by Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable MP to demand that banks do everything possible to help people stay in their homes. Banks too often have people who miss mortgage payments, often because they have lost their job, thrown out onto the street.

"Many people remember the horrors of repossession and eviction under the last Conservative government," said Dave Radcliffe. "Now that the economy is going sour under Labour, the last thing we want is a repeat of the terrible Tory years."

Liberal Democrats have put forward a package of policies to help struggling households stay in their home. These include:

• Selling part of the equity in their home to the Council or a housing association and then renting it back; and

• Allowing councils to buy completed or partly completed new homes that cannot be sold so that they can be rented out to residents who can no longer get a mortgage.

Related Link:

Find out more about the Liberal Democrat plans to help people through the economic crisis.