Repossession measures 'do not address real causes'

Date:Monday 16th February 2009
Author: Max Freedman

Measures to tackle repossessions do not address the root causes of the problem, it has been claimed.

A spokesperson for affordable housing lobbying group PricedOut.org.uk said that the government strategies are "simply a sticking plaster on the symptoms without treating the causes."

She said that the real issues are taxation on people with buy-to-let and second home properties, housing shortages and better regulation on lending.

The spokesperson also called for more taxes on buy-to-let landlords.

She said that one million more buy-to-letters had gone into the market in the past decade, increasing property prices and driving out first-time buyers.

The Centre for Policy Studies carried out research which found that few people could benefit from the government's moves against repossession.

It called for changes in court practices, saying that in the recession of the 1990s, civil courts had a greater hand in keeping people in their homes than any of the government programmes.