Christmas lock-out misery for families

Innocent tenants are victims of the crunch


TENANTS renting their houses have returned home to find bailiffs have changed the locks because their landlords have failed to pay the mortgage.

Oldham’s council housing chiefs are dealing with 10 cases a month of people from repossessed buy-to-let properties desperately looking for accommodation.

And it is feared that many more people are in a similar situation, but have not turned to the council for help.

The issue is compounded by householders having their homes repossessed over credit card debts.

The crisis is increasing pressure on the borough’s council house waiting list of 10,000 that is “growing endlessly” with hundreds of people bidding for every property that becomes available.

First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) chief executive Hugh Broadbent said: “Most buy-to-let landlords do it as a sideline to make some money or for their pensions. When things go pear-shaped they have to get out. What will happen to the rental market is very uncertain.”

One Oldham family returned to their rented home from holiday to find bailiffs had changed the locks and they were homeless.

Another couple, who had lived in their house since 1973, took up an offer to sell and rent back their home after needing money following a serious illness — only to discover a year later that the new owner had stopped paying the mortgage and they were being evicted.

Nationally, the number of buy-to-let properties repossessed soared 166 per cent in the third quarter of this year to 2,400, compared with 900 in the same period last year.

A surge in rental properties means a reduction in rent leaving properties more likely to be repossessed and landlords often accepting this rather than putting a house on the market and spending months evicting tenants.

A report on the housing crisis in Oldham says: “The unfortunate tenants face an immediate crisis of trying to find somewhere else to live and may end up homeless.

“Repossession puts not only financial but huge emotional strain on those affected. The personal cost to families who lose their home due to the landlord not meeting his mortgage costs is devastating.”

Adam Sampson, chief executive of homelessness charity Shelter, said: “Sadly, the impact of repossession can be even greater for tenants, who, despite paying rent on time, can find themselves with very few rights.”

Mr Broadbent added: “Some people are having their homes repossessed because of credit card debt as lenders are going for whatever assets the householder has and it’s often their home.

“All the messages coming out say it will get worse before it gets better.

“The waiting list is growing endlessly. We get dozens and dozens of bids, in some cases hundreds, whenever we get a vacant property. At all times there are 500 cases that are very urgent. Unless it’s an urgent case, some people have no chance of getting a property.”

FCHO is seeking Government assistance to buy empty properties and strike deals with developers unable to sell so it can finish off buildings and rent them out. If successful, 100 new houses could become available.