Day we were made homeless will live with me for ever

5:20pm Monday 17th November 2008

By Steve Hackwell

WHEN she was thrown out of her home only six weeks before Christmas, Jean Williams felt her world had simply fallen apart.

Jean had become one of the growing number of residents in south Essex who had seen their homes repossessed, after she was unable to clear her late husband’s £47,000 bankruptcy debts.

She said: “I was absolutely gutted. When it happened I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was just made homeless. It was absolutely awful.”

In the wake of the credit crunch, home repossessions are rapidly becoming a more frequent problem across the country.

In the first six months of this year, there were 355 court repossession orders made in Southend, an increase of 71 from the same period last year.

For Basildon, that figure was 557, up from 530 in 2007. However, a financial expert has warned the spectre of the credit crunch may be masking a more simple explanation for the rise in repossessions.

Tim Coombs, an accountant at Westcliff-based firm Sun Lane, said many people were unaware they may have been sold an unfair mortgage.

He said: “Mortgages should be based on people’s ability to repay, not their equity. It is possible to stop a lot of repossession cases before they get to court by proving they were missold their mortgages.

“If a mortgage is sold without the seller checking whether the buyer will be able to repay it, that is wrong and we can fight it.”

Mr Coombs also believes many people are being forced into bankruptcy and repossession after being unable to clear relatively minor debts. Currently, a homeowner can be declared bankrupt if they have more than £750 of debt which they cannot meet.

Mr Coombs said: “That means the system can be abused by those who want to force residents into repossession. We would like to see the bankruptcy limit lifted to £5,000 to combat that.”

For Jean, watching the Inland Revenue repossess her home was a devastating experience. She was forced to move in with her sister and send her two teenage children elsewhere, before she managed to find suitable rented accommodation.

She was first made aware of the impending repossession when she received a phone call telling her somebody would be coming round to value her house, in Southchurch.

Within weeks, she had appeared in court and been told she would be losing her home, before being forced to leave the house last November.

Jean said: “I loved that home, and although I have picked myself up again now, I still miss it terribly.

“But my youngest daughter said at the time that as long as we have each other, we’ll be OK, and we have been.”