Still fielding e-mails and calls from mortgage rescue scheme providers anxious to reassure us that, despite the horror stories we have been highlighting through the media in recent days, they are nice, responsible operators. They also argue that, by offering a way in which people in trouble with their mortgages can sell their houses but still stay in them as tenants, they are offering an important service.

There is nothing wrong in theory with the principle of sale and rent-back. And of course some providers may well be decent and well-meaning. But I still can’t forget the testimony I have been hearing over recent weeks from people who are now homeless and devastated by their experience. When you spend the morning with a little old lady (literally – no exaggeration) who is in tears pretty continually for three hours about what has happened to her, you lose a little sympathy for those on the other side.

And, bluntly, the apologies and claims of integrity ring hollow when you listen to the detail. When you hear that some of the schemes promise that sellers can use the buyer’s solicitor and discourage them from seeking independent advice; when you hear of refusals to give receipts for payments and tenancy agreements which are never signed; when you learn that houses bought for a knockdown price are sold on the same day at a massive profit – then you realise how crooked some of these practices are.

The responsible businesses have nothing to fear from us. As I say, we are not against the principle. All we want to see is proper regulation. If the people who have been contacting me are serious, they should support what we are trying to achieve. But there are crooks out there and they need to be stopped.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 26th, 2007 and is filed under Housing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.