Government takes steps to help homeowners

The government has recently taken steps to try and help homeowners by changing court protocols in order to make it more difficult for lenders to take court action without taking other steps first in cases where homeowners have fallen behind with mortgage repayments.

It is hoped that this will help to reduce repossession levels, and lenders will be expected to follow guidelines and take a number of other steps before taking court action. The lenders will need to demonstrate that they have taken the necessary steps if the case does end up in the courts. Read more

Tags: case, Council, climate, value, government help, number, mortgage help, housing minister

Hips legal challenge “groundless”

Home Information Packs (Hips) continue to cause a storm within the housing market but it seems that they will be given the go-ahead.

Communities and Local Government (CLG) has pledged that it will continue with the planned introduction of the packs and has reacted angrily to threats of legal action.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) this week commenced Judicial Review proceedings against CLG over a ‘failure to carry out proper consultation prior to implementing new legislation to bring in Hips’.

CLG has slammed the legal challenge and promised that Hips will become a part of the home-selling process.

“This challenge is groundless, and we will proceed with the packs being introduced on June 1st,” said a spokesman for CLG.

“This is a shocking example of a vested interest wanting to water down important environmental information.”

Meanwhile a debate in the House of Commons over the introduction of Hips ended in victory for the government and housing minister Yvette Cooper sang the praises of Hips and in particular Energy Performance Certificates.

“The certificates will give people’s homes an energy rating for the first time,” she told MPs.

“They will give people not only the rating on their home but information on what they can do about it – what their fuel bills are likely to be and how they can cut them.”

Tags: shocking example, energy, June, government, housing minister, Yvette Cooper, MPs, Commons