The new coalition government in the UK has announced that its mortgage funding rescue programme will be cut, in line with a series of financial cutbacks in order to save money to reduce budget deficit, said Housing Minister Grant Shapps.
The minister noted that while total funds for the Mortgage Rescue Scheme will remain unchanged, the government’s grant for each homeowner under the programme will be reduced.
Under the mortgage rescue scheme, which was introduced last year, homeowners can sell their properties to the housing associate or to the council, but they will be allowed to stay on in the property as a tenant. The scheme also allows homeowners to sell portion of its property in order to reduce their mortgage obligations.
Since then, around 629 homeowners have been helped by the scheme, and as of end-March, there are nearly 1849 applications pending for the scheme.
The former labour government, which launched the scheme, believed that this move would help many homeowners ease their mortgage obligations. According to a report, many measures that have been implemented have already helped reduce repossession and foreclosure rates in the country.