How does this help struggling home owners? If they can’t pay their mortgage how would they be able to pay rent?

In responce to what Michael Noonan said yesterday about people being embarrassed about thier mortgage isssues I am going completely public with my story I have had enough,I have worked front line with the homeless for the past 10 years,and now find myself in a similar position as I am on illness benefit because of my employment.I always told anyone I worked with as a key-worker/ addiction counsellor that they had nothing to be embarrassed about because of the stigma that people like to attach to homelessness,so I am damned if I am going to be embarrassed anymore by my simalar position.RTE wanted to do a story on me previously but i did’nt I am now going completely public and I am open to all media at no charge.Contact Jim McKay 087–2398373.

Hold on a minute!
So property developers get paid a wage to manage properties taken from them into NAMA but Joe soap has to pay for the privileged of managing and maintaining the house taken taken from him by the government.
No thanks!

What’s the point in renting unless the government improve renters’ rights? (A disclaimer, I own my home and have been able to keep up with payments, but believe a proper solution is required to prevent half the country’s homeowners being made homeless in the coming years. People who can pay now, may be in difficulty after the next budget.). I don’t necessarily want debt forgiveness (in fact, I think that could be a real problem, should it be brought in), but I would like to see a fair and just method for allowing people to repay debts in other ways. The guy from New Beginnings on the Frontline last Monday had a good idea to do with adjusting payments and interest to provide a sort of easier patch for people to help them get through the coming years.

However, for some, no reasonable solution will be found ( I don’t mean it badly – what I mean is they will no longer be able to service their debts due to job loss or having children, etc.) For those people strengthened renting rights will take away some of the fear that is driving people to demand debt forgiveness now.

There is a fundamental unfairness about some of the proposals as they do not take into account how much someone may have paid off their mortgage before losing their job, or whatever. Say someone bought a place for 400k within the last ten years. The initial mortgage was 360k and they had a deposit of 40k. Assume there’s 200k left in the mortgage – this assumes very healthy monthly payments have been made. The property has a current notional value of 200k but could fetch as little as 160k. Now, no matter what way the bread is sliced, anyone in this position is sitting on a write-off of 200k and under current proposals they receive no credit for this write-off. In some instances, owner-occupiers may have paid off less and in other cases more. The weakness of the current proposals, and it surprises me that none of the politicians who claim to close to the people have picked up on it, is in not allowing some kind of credit for what has been paid down. Again ths points out that contrary to the consensus negative equity entails real problems for homeowners. Buy-to-let are in the category as anyone else taking an investment risk, so I exclude them here.

It’s basically transfer of wealth. Here’s how it works from the government perspective;
Government get ‘bail-out’ money (bom), which they use to pay the banks for the houses taken from the negative equate holders. Then the government can put the future rental income towards paying back the bom with interest. This process ultimately transfers wealth generated out of this country and into the pockets of those who fund the bom.

what does that proposition mean? the government own your house and you have to rent your house indefinitely? or how long for? does that essentially mean your tied to your location? a rent slave to the government, unable to move freely?

I think that the time any money invested in this report should have drawn up several more options for struggling homeowners than it actually did. I think the banks have been given more than enough enough leeway as it is, and this report just services this belief even more. I dont agree with blanket debt forgiveness, as I think this would create huge problems – but I do think now is the time for a real leader to step in and be innovative with several solutions to help thousands of families who are struggling, and certainly not by taking ownership of their home and allowing them to rent it. I can understand the humane side of this thinking, not wanting people to actually lose ther homes, but I think this particular gesture will only ensure families will not go homeless, because they will have, in effect “lost” their home to the local council. Im dreading what the next few years bring, if this is how our “Leaders” tackle the mortgage arrears crisis – Cant wait to hear how they are going to tackle high unemployment rates, our crumbling health service and schooling systems.

Mortgage default :Does it seem reasonable to any right minded person that they should have to hand back their ownership of their home to the same bank that are are now bailing out.This is the VERY REASON why they cannot keep up the mortgage payments, they have been forced to pay extra pension levies, taxes, and pay-cuts to prop up the banks that want to re-possess the houses they allowed them to buy in the first place.These same banks don’t care where or how people live, just as long as they are bailed out.Have the shareholders and bondholders never read the small print that says ‘ The value of your investment can fall’, .
Why do I and others like me who have never even earned the AIW have to bear the brunt of all these cuts.When all these families are put out on the streets local authorities will be forced to house them, has anyone factored the cost of that yet ?More to follow if anyone is interested.

Landlords have to do structural work to thier properties, ie roofing, insulation, electrical and plumbing while tenants are usually responsible for decorating etc, will this apply to home owners in difficutly ? And will the rent be the same as the mortage or less, what protection against the rents rising above mortage repayments – this deal is just a bag of angry cats

hah the banks want it now on the double

“Except that the house isn’t actually yours until you have fully paid off your mortgage, as would be stipulated in your mortgage agreement. What, did you not read the mortgage agreement before you signed it?”

Does it mean that we can forward our property tax bills to the bank?

If the government bring in such a deal they would need to have strict enforcements on landlords and proper legal papers drawn up like in other countries to protect the people renting….Their rents should be set and agreed upon for a number of years in advance and should not be allowed increase over a certain percentage when it is up for renewal.

talk about not getting the point?!

as it stands people who miss payments on their mortgage can lose their homes. these are the risks that we all sign up to in mortgages! after losing their home people can then be chased for the balance of the loans outstanding – insult to injury perhaps but its the law and everyone signed up knowing this!

wholesale debt forgiveness was always a stupid idea – but practical solutions which attempt to stop people losing the roof over their heads are to be encouraged. there are possible operational difficulties here but nonetheless these types of ideas are the way forward!

any waffle about developers vs the poor little tax payers is unhelpful and misplaced!

If they do this they will have to do something for the people on the housing list – otherwise there will be wealthier people availing of what is in effects social housing and the inequality will rise as poorer people wait on the list in the more expensive private market while the rent allowance is to be slashed in the next budget, meaning they will have to pay more out of their dole/wages. Otherwise it will be seen as an unfair situation and resentment will fester.

good pint Aaron,they would have to pay out of their benefits which would include housing allowance paid for by the taxpayer

If you owe the bank â

It would be good to hear from people that this proposal may effect if it were to happen.

I don’t know what the hell the solution is, I just know i’m paying (barely) a mortgage on a house which is probably worth close to 60% of what I paid for it. Another hard budget and we’ll be in the same boat as so many families, facing mortgate arrears. I don’t believe the government is really concerned with helping people like us.

I agree re: the the shareholders and bondholders but people have to accept that if they can’t pay their mortgages after tax hikes then they could never really afford them in the first place. This report might not be the get out of jail free card that people expected but its something, What happens to you in Britain or America if you can’t/won’t pay your mortgage?I didn’t buy during the boom because of the very fact that it was a boom. I rented even though rents were high because I knew that it wouldn’t be sustainable to buy at those prices. I couldn’t afford the high rents in Cork City so I lived an hrs drive from where I worked. Now my wages have been cut and I’m paying more tax so I might not get mortgage approval now!