LEGISLATION making it harder for mortgage lenders to repossess homes has been promised by the Scottish Government.
However, the move was described by opposition parties as a long-overdue climbdown.
Labour demanded immediate legislation and said deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon should apologise personally to families who had lost their homes because of her
"inaction".
The Scottish Government pledge came in response to a report on repossessions by an expert group of lawyers, mortgage lenders, debt advisers and consumer bodies.
The report, published yesterday, called for legislation to ensure existing legal protection for mortgage payers applies in all repossession cases, not just in actions which are defended.
Legislation should also require lenders to show they have considered every reasonable alternative to repossession.
The group was set up in January to see if existing legal protection for homeowners needed to be strengthened.
Ms Sturgeon said: "We will now take forward the group's recommendations to assist homeowners facing the threat of repossession."
But Cathy Jamieson MSP said: "Nicola Sturgeon refused to act on our call (last November] for a Scottish equivalent of the pre- action protocols which impose a legal obligation on courts and lenders in England to make repossession a last resort.
"Since then, over 500 new actions for repossession have been raised in Glasgow alone."
She added: "I am also calling on Nicola Sturgeon to personally apologise to every family that has lost their home as a result of her inaction."
Liberal Democrat housing spokesman Ross Finnie said: "This is an embarrassing climbdown from the SNP and a victory for common sense."
• A £285 MILLION government scheme designed to give relief to thousands of struggling homeowners facing repossession has helped just two families, MPs were told last night.
Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps attacked the flagship Mortgage Rescue Scheme, which he said on present trends would give support to only about a dozen homeowners.
This was despite the fact more than 31,000 homes had been repossessed since the scheme was launched last December.
Opening a Commons debate on ministers' housing policy, Mr Shapps condemned the "minimal" take-up of various government schemes to help homeowners facing tough times.
He said: "These schemes have done so little to help real families in real distress."
Mr Shapps called on ministers to scrap controversial home information packs, which he said had damaged the housing market, and to end stamp duty for first-time buyers.
Turning to the Mortgage Rescue Scheme, he said: "This was a two-year scheme designed to help 6,000 of the most vulnerable families to avoid repossession. Four months into the two years, rather than anything like 6,000 families being helped, just two families have been rescued.
"On the current trend, just 12 families will be helped by this scheme over the two years.
"This is despite more than 4,000 homeowners approaching their local authorities for help and an estimated 31,000 homes repossessed since the time the scheme was launched."
New housing minister John Healey said that without government intervention during the recession there would be more people losing their homes and fewer homes being built. He said that, thanks to ministerial initiatives, lenders were looking at repossession as a "last resort".
Labour's Phyllis Starkey, chairwoman of the communities and local government select committee, hit out at Mr Shapps's "vacuous and… positively dangerous" comments.
She said criticising the take-up of government schemes was "not a realistic assessment".
The Tories' motion, expressing disappointment at the "minimal take-up" of the mortgage rescue scheme, was rejected by 298 to 208. The government's amendment, hailing its "comprehensive support" to help households avoid repossession, was carried without a vote.
• LEGISLATION making it harder for mortgage lenders to repossess homes has been promised by the Scottish Government, in what opposition parties say is a long-overdue climbdown.
The pledge came in response to a report on repossessions by a group of lawyers, mortgage lenders, debt advisers and consumer bodies.
They called for legislation to ensure existing legal protection for mortgage payers applied in all repossession cases, not just in actions that are defended. It also said legislation should require lenders to show they had considered every reasonable alternative to repossession.
Labour and the Lib Dems accused the government of ignoring earlier calls to take such action.
The full article contains 723 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
