Banks ‘should cover troubled owners’ costs’

Banks should cover the cost of financial and legal aid for distressed homeowners who engage with them in an effort to reach a sustainable alternative arrangement on their mortgage, according to human rights group Flac.

Noeline Blackwell, director general of the Free Legal Advice Centres, said it was “most distressing” that there was no bank or state-funded legal or financial advice available to thousands of homeowners potentially facing repossession.

She said while some were entitled to free legal aid from the state-funded Legal Aid Board, only two of the board’s centres had waiting times for an appointment of fewer than four months and some had waiting times of more than a year.