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Clegg demands repossessions crackdown
BANKS should be legally banned from launching repossessions for six months so homeowners can try to rescue their finances, the Liberal Democrats said today.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said ministers should be much tougher on banks which are refusing to lend to small businesses and families - despite having been saved by a 37bn taxpayer bailout.
He said guidance issued to banks should be made binding and included in the Queen's Speech on Wednesday, which sets out the Government's legislative programme.
The Sheffield Hallam MP said: "You need a statutory period of time in which every householder who gets into trouble knows that they are not going to have their home repossessed and they have time to rearrange their finances."
A six-month period would ensure homeowners had time to rearrange their finances and seek independent financial advice, although Mr Clegg acknowledged that some families will get into "irretrievable trouble".
He added: "There should be a statutory obligation on the banks to look at all other alternatives short of repossession, notably shared ownership."
Mr Clegg also wants councils to be given more freedom to borrow against their assets and for rules which require local authorities to balance their books every year to be relaxed. Both measures would help councils raise more money to buy up unsold property, which can be used as social housing, he explained.
His party's policy would make a "very significant" dent on the council house waiting list, he said.
"The big thing to do would be to give them the freedom to borrow against their assets.
"It is quite a radical reinvigoration of local council freedoms, which we think is an essential part of how you soften the blow of the economic recession on families."
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Weather for Sheffield
Sunday 03 June 2012
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