A family of five were 'rescued' from their mortgage and able to stay in their home after getting caught up in unpaid bills and arrears. Amanda Lawrence had lived a largely unremarkable but “happy” life until pelvic pain which she developed during her final pregnancy persisted and was so excruciating she had to quit work.
“It was going well, we were a happy family before things started to go wrong,” the former administrative assistant and mum of three from Gibbonsdown said. “It took a long time to finally be diagnosed and my health really deteriorated. It was so bad I couldn’t even take the kids to school. Life became a blur of hospital appointments.”
As her husband desperately tried to juggle full-time work in product safety with caring for Amanda and the children, Amanda said life became too much of a struggle leading to his breakdown. “It was getting harder and harder. He was trying to do everything and he just couldn’t take it anymore. He had no choice but to leave work.”
Read more: 'I had 10 miscarriages and lost my son - everything I have done is for him'
As they spent everything they had on their mortgage, the family from Barry were struggling so much financially that when their boiler broke they couldn’t pay to fix it and instead lived in the cold. As bills piled up Amanda recalls “the worst year of my life” pleading with the bailiffs and her mortgage lender to allow them to stay in the house.
“Every day I was on the phone to the mortgage company saying: ‘We can’t pay you, please don’t evict us.’ It was the most stressful year of my life, constantly on the phone to the mortgage lender. While they were quite understanding they said they had to follow their procedures. We were constantly thinking about what we would do if we lost our home. What would we put in storage? It was overwhelming.”
If not for an avenue she had no idea about, Amanda is convinced she’d have lost her home. “We went to Citizens Advice and we were referred to Shelter Cymru, and a caseworker there told us about the mortgage rescue scheme. The caseworker was brilliant and understood she was fighting to keep us in our family home, whereas to the mortgage company I felt they thought it was just another property.”
Amanda and her husband were told a day before their eviction hearing that their application for their mortgage to be rescued had been approved. Through the scheme the Newydd Housing Association bought their house in 2008 and Amanda’s family became tenants. The association carried out the maintenance the family hadn’t been able to afford, repairing the boiler and installing a wheelchair ramp. The family still rents from Newydd and said they wanted to share their story to show how easily people can fall on hard times, and call for a return of the scheme which ended in 2014 as more people struggle with financial pressures.
The Bank of England has predicted around four million UK households will face higher mortgage payments during 2023, with the typical payment up by £250. That takes the average monthly mortgage bill from £750 to £1,000, which is expected to cause severe financial difficulty for 220,000 households.
Shelter Cymru reports it saw a 45% increase from August to November 2022 in the number of mortgage repossession cases compared with the same period in 2021. The charity saw 126 cases in 2022 of people losing their homes compared with 87 in 2021.
Amanda says she now worries about families who are in a similar position to what she was in. “Home to us is stability and safety, it’s our sanctuary. I wish they would bring the scheme back because it saved our family. We were lucky, but I know of others who have lost their homes. I worry about how bad it is now and how many families, especially with young children, are at risk. It’s heartbreaking.”
Wendy Dearden, policy and public affairs manager for Shelter Cymru, said: “We are becoming increasingly worried about the impact of increased mortgage interest rates. We are concerned for current owners coming to the end of fixed-term arrangements and facing significant increases to their monthly payments. Most people can only imagine the stress of potentially losing a home which they have emotionally and financially invested in. The gauge on that stress moves ever higher each month as the arrears figures grow and the inevitability of the situation takes hold. For a growing number, this is becoming reality.”
Jennie Bibbings, Head of Campaigns for Shelter Cymru, said: “We recommend that the Welsh Government makes creating a new mortgage rescue scheme for Wales a priority now.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Whilst we can’t shield everyone from the cost of living crisis, we are doing everything we can to help people through this very difficult period with targeted support for those who need it the most. For those struggling to make their mortgage repayments, we are looking very carefully at options to ensure people are able to access the right support, to enable them to stay in their homes. We would advise them to contact their lender in the first instance as well as advisory services such as Citizens Advice for free, impartial and confidential advice about support available to them. By contacting a debt advisor, a person can apply to the Breathing Space scheme for temporary protection from their creditor adding to their debts with interest and taking enforcement action, giving them time and space to take better control of their finances. Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) and credit unions can also provide support to those who are eligible.”
Read next:
- Family trapped in house that's falling apart with sewage smells seeping into property
- Life on the tight-knit valleys street where everyone knows each other and residents still use coal fires
- What it's really like working in A&E at a critical time for the Welsh NHS
- Man dies after incident at recycling centre in Neath
