Homes crisis grows as orders for repossession rise by 25%

Soaring numbers of families face losing their homes after repossession orders jumped by a quarter.

Official figures show 28,658 mortgage possession orders were made in England and Wales during the second quarter of the year, up 24 per cent on the same period a year ago.

In London, the number of court orders rose by 12 per cent to 4,052, according to non-seasonally adjusted data.

There were large increases at several county courts including Edmonton, 34 per cent to 395, Kingston-upon-Thames, 22 per cent to 93, and Brentford, 20 per cent to 191. "The level of growth of repossession orders suggests that we are on track for a repossession-crisis very similar to the early Nineties," said Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable.

Mr Cable called on the Government to implement a proper code of conduct, saying: "This should not just apply to the big banks but the large number of secondary lenders using court action to pursue debts in a very aggressive way".

The Ministry of Justice said there were 39,078 mortgage possession court claims in the second quarter of this year, an increase of 17 per cent on last year but unchanged on the first quarter.

A mortgage repossession order, granted by a court, entitles the claimant - usually a lender - to apply to have the occupier evicted. But a significant number of homeowners issued with an order manage to avoid being forced out.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders last week reported that almost 19,000 homeowners had to hand back their keys in the first six months of this year, up 48 per cent on the same period of 2007. It was today sticking to its prediction of 45,000 repossessions for the whole of this year.

Housing minister Caroline Flint said: "We are making sure the right advice and support is available for the minority of borrowers who may need it because of global economic pressures. We are working-with lenders to ensure that repossession is only ever a last resort."

But housing charity Shelter said lenders were "still using repossession as the first rather than last resort" and the number coming to it for help with mortgage possession actions in the past six months had risen by 55 per cent.