I am collating information from people who have been in arrears or at possession hearings and have been told been told by lenders or their solicitors a version of, "Don't worry, let yourself get repossessed and then the Council will have to give you a house."

I know one woman who says she is prepared to give a sworn statement that she handed in the keys to her home having been fed this line by a solicitor working for Halifax, as they waited outside the court *before* the hearing. The subsequent few years she still finds difficult to talk about.

I have got a number of problems with this kind of behaviour if it is true. First, most local authorities are desperately short of suitable properties for families. We are fast approaching a waiting list of 8,000 applications for housing or transfer in Portsmouth. Is it not simply unrealistic and cynical of lenders to paint a picture where the repossessed will have their needs met by cash-strapped councils that are short of housing stock in the post-Right-To-Buy era? Second, why should lenders' profits be bolstered and lenders' convenience be pandered to, out of the public purse? Last I knew, local taxation and existing tenants' rents were intended for better things surely than making board directors and shareholders happy.

If I can amass some good quality information I can bring it to the attention of the Audit Commission and Local Government Association. They are not "players" that have ever been approached before, to my knowledge, and asked to look at the alleged practices that worry so many who read and contribute to this Board. Send information privately if necessary, either via email or to my office at Members', 3rd Floor, Portsmouth City Council, Civic Offices, Portsmouth PO1 2AL.

Many thanks.

-- Eleanor Scott (eleanor.scott@btinternet.com), March 06, 2005

Answers

I would be very interested in the reults, I could do with the stats to post on my site which will mainly deal with bankruptcy. Regards Adrian

-- Adrian Ratcliffe (info@rd-solutions.co.uk), March 06, 2005.

I am not sure what you hope to acheive from this, certainly as lenders most of us do advise staff to ask the borrower to contact the local authority in their area if they do not have any other alternative accomodation arranged. All of my staff do know that there are no guarantee's offered and do not imply anything more.

But generally word of mouth conversations wont make the AC act. Unless you can obtain actual evidence. I am sure it does happen and I am not defending it but undocumented comments are hard to bring any action against.

-- Lee Wisener (lee@wisener.net), March 08, 2005.