Rise in repossession total expected

"The Loans Search...."

Figures due to be released are expected to show a jump in the number of people having their homes repossessed.

The grim figures will add to pressure on the Government as it is revealed a scheme designed to stop people losing their homes has yet to help a single person.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders' statistics show both the number of properties that were repossessed during the final three months of last year and a total for the whole of 2008.

Commentators have predicted that around 42,000 homeowners lost their properties in 2008 after failing to keep up with their mortgage.

The Ministry of Justice is also releasing figures showing the number of repossession orders made by courts in England and Wales during the final quarter of 2008.

The data is being released amid claims the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme, announced in December, has still not been implemented by lenders, who are seeking more clarity and guarantees from the Government.

ITV News reported the Government would only be issuing legal documents today, finally allowing the scheme to go ahead.

Lenders feared the scheme would only defer a "repossessions spike" to 2011 and burden homeowners with unmanageable payments to catch up.

Announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the Commons, it would allow households with loans of up to £400,000 to defer interest payments for up to two years if they suffered a sudden and temporary loss of income.

Mr Brown told MPs the country's eight biggest lenders had agreed to sign up.

Adam Sampson, chief executive of Shelter said: "Government has been guilty of rushing to announce schemes before the details are finalised. What that does is to give many people who are facing repossessions hope that something immediately will happen and in practice help is in some cases six months or more away.

"The false hope that some of them have been given by the too-early announcement of some of these schemes has only compounded the stress they're already feeling."

Junior housing minister Iain Wright is due to give an update on the various measures the Government has introduced to help homeowners who are struggling to keep up with their mortgage.

He is also expected to give further details on how the Homeowners Mortgage Support Scheme will work.

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