Help to fight repossessions

LONG-AWAITED help for families facing repossession due to mortgage arrears could finally be on the way, ministers last night signalled.

Radical initiatives such as banks taking an equity share in homes, or assuming ownership of the property and leasing it back to struggling mortgage payers may be on the way if a new debt task force gives them the green light.

A “team of experts” – including bankers, consumer protection chiefs, a representative of the Free Legal Aid Centre and senior civil servants – has been assembled by the Government to probe the issues involved.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan and his counterpart at Energy, Eamon Ryan, announced the move four months after it formed part of the renegotiated programme for government ironed out between the Greens and Fianna Fáil.

Mr Ryan said it was key to economic recovery to reform personal debt laws and aid families in mortgage trouble.

“Keeping families in their homes is a social and economic priority. The Government also wishes to remove, as far as practicable, debt enforcement proceedings from the courts.”

The working group is expected to report back to the ministers by early summer and will also look at possible solutions, such as banks rolling up outstanding interest and reducing rates as part of moratorium packages. Personal bankruptcy laws are expected to be radically streamlined and debt collection agencies regulated under the reforms.