Experts noted that the current situation requires the government to adopt a set of measures aimed at solving this problem. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors believes that the actions taken by the country's authorities to support mortgage borrowers who may lose their homes due to loan debts are insufficient. The current situation requires a comprehensive solution - in particular, according to experts, it is necessary to take measures to support citizens in need of housing or improvement of their living conditions. Thus, experts proposed lowering the tax levied on home repairs followed by renting them out from 15% to 5%.
It should be recalled that the issue of the fate of property repossessed for mortgage debt is currently one of the most acute problems in the UK. According to the British Council of Mortgage Lenders, in 2009 banks will take about 75,000 homes from debtors. At the same time, according to statistics, only 9,000 people have taken advantage of the government's program to support troubled mortgage borrowers to date.
The low effectiveness of the government program is explained by its unacceptably strict participation conditions. According to UK Housing Minister Margaret Beckett, the program can only be used by citizens who have lost their jobs. Meanwhile, those Britons who are still working but have lost the ability to pay mortgage loans due to reduced income have effectively remained outside government support.
Meanwhile, reports Lenta.ru, by the beginning of December, more than a million Britons have lost their jobs in the UK. The current unemployment growth rate in the country is the highest in eight years.