With the increase in the number of people facing difficulty in meeting mortgage and other financial commitments it is inevitable that repossessions increase as lenders refuse to help with refinancing.  For some lenders it is a case of survival, they need to reduce their riskier mortgage lending so that their overall risk enables them to secure funds in the market place, but in the short term it means much pain for many people with mortgages.

In extreme cases there are solutions, in effect handing over your property to a house buying company who will then rent the property back to you.  Historically this has been and issue as some of these companies have gone back on rental agreements, evicting the former house owner, and then selling on for a profit.  In some cases these companies have even gone bankrupt.

Step in the FSA (Financial Services Authority).  As of 1st July 2009 new regulations came into effect to help prevent vulnerable homeowners being mistreated by some of the “less honest” rent back companies.  Although to be fair, most of these companies did operate fairly, but for the homeowner wanting to sell and rent back it was a bit of a lottery as to who you sold to, so well done to the FSA for taking action to address this.

For those who just want to sell and move on there are also companies who will purchase property outright, in some cases “cash property buyers” who will purchase a property within days.  But as the property market is still falling don’t expect to get the maximum price, these companies are often traders who then sell on to private investors, there needs to be a discount to cover the cost of buying and re-selling.