Repossessions soar across region

Families across the Black Country and Staffordshire face losing their homes as the credit crunch tightens its grip, shocking new figures have revealed.

Between January and April, 788 landlord and repossession orders were made at courts in Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Stafford, forcing people out of their flats and houses.

A total of 360 orders were made in Walsall, 206 in Wolverhampton, 157 in Dudley and 65 in Stafford.

This represents increases of 24 per cent, 32 per cent, 15 per cent and 25 per cent respectively compared with the same four months last year.

In total in 2007, there were 1,142 orders made in Walsall, 677 in Wolverhampton, 515 in Dudley and 231 in Stafford.

The new figures have prompted the Legal Services Commission, the Government body responsible for providing legal aid, to make emergency help available for people facing eviction or repossession.

It has set up nine new schemes at county courts in the West Midlands, including Dudley, Stourbridge, Kidderminster and Stafford, so people can get advice and representation on the day of the court hearings.

The Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme is currently available in Wolverhampton and Birmingham.

Glyn Evans, regional director for the Legal Services Commission in the Midlands, said: "Inflation is going up with the prices of fuel, utilities and petrol increasing. Combine this with the credit crunch, making it hard for people to borrow money, and we are seeing more people having their homes repossessed."

But chief executive of Dudley Building Society Geoff Caves said the figures did not differentiate between the people who borrowed money from a mainstream lender, such as a bank or building society, and those who were funded by a secondary lender, who are more likely to lend cash to people with poor credit histories or on low incomes.

He said the latter tended to lead to more repossession cases as they were the people who would find it harder to pay the mortgage. Mr Caves added: "For us repossession will always be the last resort. The main thing is to identify what the problem is and how we can work through it. We will do everything possible to enable people to stay in their homes."

It is hoped the decision to make more legal aid solicitors available to deal with house repossession orders at county courts in the West Midlands and Staffordshire will ultimately enable more people to stay in their own homes.

Nationally in 2005/06 around 12,000 people received financial help to support their case, rising to around 30,000 in 2006/07. The Legal Services Commission has stressed people should not pin all their hopes on legal advice they can receive on the day of their hearing and stressed it is important to seek help as soon as possible.