Buy-to-let mortgages: Notice periods 'are a repossession problem'

Date:Wednesday 25th February 2009
Author: Max Freedman

The issue of notice periods for tenants who are victims of buy-to-let mortgage repossessions has been highlighted by an expert.

Ian Potter, operations manager at the Association of Residential Lettings Agents, was responding to government proposals that would give tenants as much as seven weeks' notice of repossession proceedings starting.

But he pointed out that not all proceedings end in repossession and suggested instead that tenants receive notice after an order to take back a property has been allowed.

"We have been through this cycle before and the buy-to-let repossession is still a very small percentage of the buy-to-let properties," he said.

Data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders shows that there were 5,000 fewer repossessions in 2008 than had been predicted to take place.

There were 40,000 repossessions throughout the year, totalling one in every 290 mortgages.

According to the statistics, 75,000 repossessions are expected to take place during 2009.