A PROPOSITION which would have protected Islanders from having their homes repossessed for 12 months after missing a mortgage payment has been rejected.
Reform Jersey Deputy Geoff Southern had called for Chief Minister Kristina Moore – in consultation with Treasury Minister Ian Gorst – to engage with local mortgage and credit providers to support those struggling to make repayments.
Deputy Southern’s proposal came after UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reached an agreement with Britain’s biggest lenders to give homeowners a 12-month grace period if they fell behind on mortgage payments after the Bank of England raised interest rates to 5%.
However, States Members voted 24 to 19 against the proposition.
In an emotive debate, which saw a split between Reform Jersey members and ministers, the party’s Deputy Carina Alves spoke about the number of constituents in her parish who were struggling with their mortgages. Meanwhile, St Clement Constable Marcus Troy described losing the ‘shirt on his back’ in the 1990s financial crash.
During the debate, Deputy Southern said the proposition was an opportunity for the Assembly to ‘engage with local mortgage and credit providers’. ‘There’s no place for the government to get together with lenders and say to Islanders, “Come and see us if you have problems with your mortgage”,’ he said, adding that it was ‘nothing but well-intentioned’ and would ‘do no harm’.
However, ministers said the proposition was ‘obsolete’, with Deputy Gorst adding that the government had already done what the proposal was asking and would continue to do it.
He said that earlier this month Deputy Elaine Millar, Assistant Chief Minister with responsibility for financial services, wrote to mortgage lenders in Jersey asking them to honour the UK’s Mortgage Charter and commit to providing additional short-term support to residential mortgage holders who were struggling in the face of rising interest rates.
