Burden on mortgage holders

I was a little perplexed to see that the Labour Party has given an unqualified welcome for the “Mortgage to Rent” scheme — or maybe I misunderstand what is involved here.

According to the Housing Agency, that scheme does not allow for any debt forgiveness to the family involved and, in fact, when the family struggling with the mortgage hand back the keys of their home, what happens next under this scheme is that a private housing association, such as Cluid or Respond, then buy the house from the bank at the current market value and then rent it back to the previous owner under existing social housing rules.

However, the difference between the current market value and the amount originally borrowed remains owed by the family and they must enter a separate arrangement to pay that back to the bank.