Lenders are being told they must assess the affordability of loans [...]]]> New rules to stop a resurgence in risky mortgage lending are likely to be imposed in 2013 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).The regulator’s revised proposals still intend to bring in “common sense” standards that will stop home buyers borrowing more than they can afford.

Lenders are being told they must assess the affordability of loans better.  But some flexibility is being allowed for existing customers who might have been prevented from remortgaging.

Lord Turner, chairman of the FSA, said: “While the excesses of the pre-crisis period have largely disappeared from the current market, it is important to ensure that better practice endures in future when memories of the crisis recede and the dangers of poor practice return.”

The regulator wants to stop any possibility of a return to the early years of the past decade, in which some lenders handed out mortgages with only cursory checks on borrowers’ real ability to repay.

The most notorious examples were the “Together” mortgages offered by the Northern Rock bank, which granted loans worth 125% of the value of homes.

In some other extreme cases, lenders offered mortgages worth seven times a borrower’s income, or allowed them to exaggerate their real income, especially in the case of “self-certified” mortgages.

The thrust of the FSA’s proposals, which are now going out to a further round of public consultation, is still that lenders must judge properly the ability of individual borrowers to repay.

“The proposals will see prospective borrowers – whether they are first-time buyers, right-to-buy tenants or home movers – get the right information and advice, at the right time, and ensure mortgage lenders will be properly checking each applicant’s realistic ability to repay their mortgage,” the FSA said.

Specifically, when lenders assess a mortgage application, they will have to:

• assume interest rates may rise from their current low levels.
• not let borrowers rely on the possibility of rising house prices to claim they can eventually repay.
• assess interest-only mortgages as repayment ones, unless there is a “believable” source of money to pay off the loan.

Although lenders will still have to check income details in each mortgage application, the FSA is no longer proposing that a borrower undergoes a detailed check of how they spend their money, but only be given a broad assessment of their “committed and essential household expenditure” instead.

Under the proposed new rules, interest-only mortgages can still be offered if there is a “credible” plan to repay the loan, which does not involve a borrower assuming he or she can eventually cash in on the rising value of their home.

Then, an estimated 1.6 [...]]]> The number of mortgage borrowers in negative equity – where their loan is bigger than the value of their house – is 827,000, lenders have calculated.The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said the figures, for the first quarter of 2011, suggest the problem is not as great as in the early 1990s.

Then, an estimated 1.6 million households were in negative equity.

The CML said while it made it hard for some people to move home, it did not mean their home would be repossessed.

“Negative equity is much less common than in the 1990s, and in the current cycle low interest rates and a relatively stable employment market are providing more options for borrowers and lenders in difficulty,” the CML’s director general, Paul Smee, said.

“There is no direct relationship between negative equity and mortgage payment problems.

“What typically causes difficulty for households is not a nominal fall in housing value but an unexpected change in personal circumstances, like the loss of a job or the breakdown of a family relationship,” he explained.

However, those in this predicament are mainly people who bought a home in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and have thus been affected most by price falls, and first-time buyers who typically put down small deposits.

“Half of negative equity cases relate to loans taken out in 2007, when lending conditions were at their most competitive and house prices at their peak,” the CML said.

“Nearly a third of continuing loans from 2007 are in negative equity,” it added.

The CML estimates that about 326,000, or 39%, of the current 826,000 negative equity cases are first-time buyers.

In turn, 26% of all current first-time buyers are in negative equity.

“First-time buyers are more vulnerable to experiencing negative equity during a period of softer house prices [and] our latest estimates confirm that first-time buyers do have a materially higher propensity to be in negative equity,” the CML said.

The problem is worst in those areas where prices have fallen most in the past few years: Northern Ireland, Yorkshire, Humberside and the north-east of England.

The CML pointed out that despite negative equity suffered by a minority of home buyers, the amount of unmortgaged housing wealth owned in the UK was still “phenomenal”.

It estimated that people who own their homes outright, with no mortgage at all, own property worth a total of £1.43 trillion.

Meanwhile, nearly half of people with a mortgage had one that was worth less than 70% of the value of their homes, giving them an equity cushion of at least 30%.

Another quarter of borrowers had mortgages worth between 70% and 90% of their homes.

The rest had less than a 10% equity stake in their homes.

Thus people with mortgages own homes worth a total of £1.84 trillion and of that their unmortgaged equity cushion amounts to nearly £800 billion.

A previous estimate of negative equity from the CML was published in April 2009.

At the time it showed that 900,000 homes had been in that position in the preceding year.

However, the CML said its latest research was not directly comparable with its previous publication, due to the use of a different methodology.

Bank of Ireland’s 2009 loss was almost three [...]]]> Bank of Ireland has seen its net loss for 2010 fall to 609m euros, (£544m) after negotiating debt write downs from its bondholders.The results came as a surprise to analysts, who had forecast at least double those losses in line with the wider problems in Dublin’s banking sector.

Bank of Ireland’s 2009 loss was almost three times as high at 1.76bn euros (£1.46 billion).

The bank is currently trying to stay out of total government control- who are the bank’s biggest shareholder with a 36% stake.

If the bank can raise £3.5 billion in the coming months it will be deemed strong enough to stand alone.

The bank is shaping up to be the strongest survivor of the Irish Republic’s banking crisis.

Years of over generous lending, largely for property development, proved unsustainable and led to a 70bn euro support package backed by fellow European partners and the International Monetary Fund.

Its once-bigger rival, Allied Irish Banks (AIB), is so weakened by the Irish banking crisis it is 93% -owned by the Irish state.

Earlier this week, AIB reported a £8.6 billion loss for 2010. It needs to raise £10.8 billion- three times the amount the Bank of Ireland needs.

The Bank of Ireland also recorded nearly £2.1 billion in 2010 losses on its state-ordered sale of property-based loans and assets to the Irish Republic’s so-called “bad bank”, National Asset Management Agency.

One has been the Bank of England’s determination to keep interest rates as low as possible, for as long as possible.

And the other has been the lower than expected rise in [...]]]> With unemployment growing and government cutbacks in the pipeline will UK house prices plummet?Maybe not- with two factors stopping sales and prices falling more sharply.

One has been the Bank of England’s determination to keep interest rates as low as possible, for as long as possible.

And the other has been the lower than expected rise in unemployment.

The recession may be formally over, but big government spending cuts are in the pipeline, with the jobless count likely to rise significantly.

Many economists think that interest rates will stay as they are through 2011, but one of the biggest lenders, the Halifax, reckons they may in fact rise by the end of the year.

It is forecasting a 0.25% increase in the Bank of England’s bank rate by the time 2011 is over, if the economy picks up a bit more.

Will this cause fear and panic among borrowers accustomed to the historically low rates they have enjoyed over the past 18 months or so?

Re-Mortgager thinks not, whilst interest rates may be more expensive, compared to inflation- which may rise top 5%- the overall costs will be lower.

The CML says that mortgage rationing by banks and building societies will [...]]]> Mortgage arrears and repossessions will rise modestly next year, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) predicts.
Its annual forecast for the UK property market paints a picture of continued stagnation, with the current low level of sales persisting, and prices falling modestly or staying flat.

The CML says that mortgage rationing by banks and building societies will continue with the poor state of the economy detering some potential home buyers.

“Given the continuing economic uncertainties, there is little to encourage buyers,” the CML said in its annual market forecast for 2011.

“First-time buyers will continue to find it difficult to get into the market. With funding in short supply, the availability of mortgages for first-time buyers will remain limited,” it added.

This has been due to a sluggish recovery from economic recession, and unemployment reaching a plateau just below 2.5 million people.

The finances of many home buyers have been helped crucially by the long period of ultra-low interest rates.

The Bank of England steadily cut its base rate from 5% in 2008 to 0.5% in March 2009, and it has stayed at that level since.

Despite this, the CML says there are some mortgage borrowers who will not be able to hold out any longer.

It predicts that there will be 40,000 repossessions in 2011, up from an estimated 36,000 this year.

With lenders having to start repaying about £130bn of emergency lending in 2011, the CML says there is no chance of the severe mortgage rationing of the past couple of years easing off.

In fact the lenders’ organisation warns that the position may become worse, as international banking rules tighten the screw on loans to borrowers with only small deposits.

Most activity, it says, has been in freeholds at the bottom of the market, as pub [...]]]> Pub values have nearly halved since 2007, as drinkers stay at home and the problems of the wider property market take their toll.
Research from pub property specialists Fleurets shows a 40% fall in values since the market peaked in 2007.

Most activity, it says, has been in freeholds at the bottom of the market, as pub owners sell out because they can no longer turn a profit.

Simon Hall, a Fleurets director, said pubs were suffering from the wider problems in the property market. “Banks are not providing funding [for buyers]. Deals are either cash deals or secured on other property,” he said.

The 40% drop is much larger than falls seen in residential property, however, reflecting the fact that the sector is facing broader problems, including supermarket discounting, the smoking ban and people drinking at home. Hall said January’s rise in VAT would further depress the sector.

The average sale price for a bottom-end freehold – a pub sold without trading accounts, often boarded up and vandalised – was just £193,200 in 2010 – down from £319,780 in 2007, Fleurets said. Prices for leaseholds and for the better freehold pubs, where activity has been thinner, have fallen by similar amounts, according to Fleurets’ data.

“The vast majority of activity involved is low-end freehold sales by tenanted pub companies,” Fleurets said.

The falls in value underline the difficulties faced by some of the biggest UK-listed pub companies, some of which have been wrestling with questions over what to do with their pub estates.

Punch Taverns – which plunged £160m into the red last year – is said to be thinking of handing back the keys to 6,000 of its 6,800-strong pub estate to cut its £3bn debt. It would be left with just 800 managed houses. The company’s shares have fallen from highs of more than £13 in 2007 at the height of the boom to 70p as the industry wrestles with its problems and its debts. Enterprise Inns, which has also been selling pubs, has seen its shares fall from more than £6 to just over £1.

Managed operators such as JD Wetherspoon and Mitchells & Butlers, which run their pubs directly, have done better as they have more freedom to cut costs.

Despite the huge falls in pub values since 2007, some areas are looking brighter. The annual survey of prices shows that in London and the Home Counties, there have been some price increases.

The average selling price of a freehold free house – a profitable and functioning pub often privately owned – in London and the Home Counties this year is now about £513,000. That is less than half the £1.14m they fetched in 2007 but an improvement on the £413,000 achieved in 2009.

A bottom-end freehold in London and the Home Counties was £316,000 in 2007, falling only marginally to £301,100 in 2009 – and this year that has increased to £356,000, Fleurets said: “There is a north-south divide. Some 70% of bottom-end sales are in the Midlands and two northern regions, where there was a 7.7% reduction in the average sale price. But in the four southern regions there was an increase of 11.7% in the average sale price.”

Some of the demand pushing prices up in the south is coming for pubs being put to other uses. Fleurets said more than a quarter of sales in the south-east have been for alternative use.

Experts estimate that there may still be an “overhang” too, suggesting that 3,000 of Britain’s 55,000-strong pub estate will have to close. There are currently estimated to be 38 pubs a week shutting.

The findings by property websites Trulia and [...]]]> 58% of Americans expect the US housing market to stay depressed for two or more years, a new survey has suggested.
Even worse- in the survey, 48% of respondents said they would consider walking away from their mortgage if they were in negative equity – up from 41% since May.

The findings by property websites Trulia and RealtyTrac come as house prices have begun falling again.

They suggest the market may face a new wave of mortgage defaults as Americans lose respect for scandal-hit banks.

The attorneys general of all 50 US states are carrying out a joint investigation into foreclosures – the repossession of US homes by mortgage lenders – after it emerged that unqualified “robo-signers” had been used to produce fraudulent documentation to present to US courts.

“As a result of the recent robo-signing debacle, half of US adults expressed that they now have less faith in mortgage lenders, banks and the government,” the two companies said in a statement presenting their report.

The two real estate websites themselves were even more pessimistic than their survey respondents, predicting that the housing market would recover only in 2014.

The number of loans approved for those buying a [...]]]> Home owners have so little equity left in the homes after the credit crisis that they are struggling to remortgage, experts warned.
The latest lending statistics suggested the number of people who remortgaged their homes in June was just 27,000, down 20 per cent on a year earlier.

The number of loans approved for those buying a new home rose 19 per cent in June on the previous month, according to the Council of Mortgage lenders, but experts said it was not unusual for the summer months.

Lenders are cherry-picking borrowers who have the largest deposits amid a backdrop of rising repossessions.

First-time buyers currently pay a typical deposit of more than £35,000, separate research from Nationwide suggested earlier this week. It is a significant increase from the average deposit of £1,300 required 25 years ago.

House prices recovered some lost ground during the past year amid a shortage of supply of suitable properties. However, they remain below the levels seen before the credit crisis began in August 2007.

Paul Samter, an economist at the CML, said: “For the time being, the effects of government spending cuts have yet to make an impact on mortgage demand, and activity continues on its upward trajectory.

“But we still expect house purchase activity to be muted in the coming months. Both consumer demand and lending capacity remain distinctly difficult to call, especially in the light of the government’s austerity measures and their possible impact.”

Concerns about the economic outlook have helped to spur Britons to put more money aside every month, according to National Savings & Investments.

People are now typically saving £85.21, up from £81.94 in the last quarter, it said.

Home owners are particularly vulnerable if interest rates go up as they would be likely to see a sharp increase in their monthly mortgage payments.

Falls in their investments as a result of the worst economic crisis in a generation [...]]]> Hundreds of thousands of retired home owners face have having their homes repossessed as banks refuse to extend their mortgage terms.Lenders have imposed tight age restrictions on elderly borrowers who have been unable to pay off their mortgage before reaching retirement.

Falls in their investments as a result of the worst economic crisis in a generation mean many have been left with ongoing debts. As many as one in six retired home owners still have a mortgage, according to latest figures.

It means 1.35 million people in retirement still have an average mortgage of £50,100, an increase of £8,000 from a year ago.

Lenders have cut the maximum age they will lend to amid the credit crisis, with many introducing a cap of 65 years old.

As a result, retired home owners with a mortgage are struggling to find new deals and face being evicted from their properties if they do not have the cash to pay off their remaining home loan with one lump sum.

Politicians and mortgage experts said it is the latest evidence of how banks are tightening their lending criteria amid the recession despite billions of pounds in financial support from the taxpayer.

Grant Shapps, shadow housing minister, said: “Despite years of hearing Gordon Brown boast about how he had ended the housing boom and bust, people are now having to work longer and retire later on less money. This latest news will certainly send chills down the spines of thousands of hardworking people who had previously thought that they might be able to retire in comfort.

The majority of lenders cap lending to borrowers up to the ages of between 65 and 75 years old, having never previously had such limits in place.

Mortgage brokers said they are potential options available to those whose mortgage deal comes to an end in retirement. These include approaching lenders for an extension to the mortgage term, remortgaging or getting children to guarantor their elderly parents’ mortgages.

With the number of home owners falling behind with their mortgage payments reaching a 12 year high, lenders have been told by the Government to use repossession as a last resort.

So it does seem reasonable to suggest [...]]]> UK mortgage lending is still subject to severe rationing so whether you are looking to re-mortgage to fix your home loans interest rate, or leave it remain at the standard variable rate is a key issue.However, the Bank of England base rate remains at a 300-year low of 0.5%.

So it does seem reasonable to suggest that the next movement in the base rate is more likely to be upwards than downwards.

During most of 2004 until late 2008, the base rate averaged about 5%.

The key advantage with fixed rates however is that as the base rate increases (if it does) then your budget remains unaffected by the rise.

Any pay rise you get over the two or five years will be yours to spend and not just handed over to your lender.

Clearly, if you sign up for a five year rate at 4.5%, you will probably be paying more than some of your neighbours this year.

However if interest rates increase you might find you have new neighbours.

Those exposed to variable rates may have been forced to move due to their inability to maintain their lifestyle and their mortgage.

The possibility of a sharp rise in interest rates certainly seems remote at the moment, given the likely imposition of higher taxes in the Budget later this month, and in light of the recent comments by Bank of England governor Mervyn King in connection with a desire to keep rates low.

The feeling today is that base rate will, in all likelihood, remain at less than 2% for the next 18 months to two years, so you might feel that exposing yourself to a tracker, which moves in line with the base rate, is a risk worth taking.

The lowest priced tracker mortgages today would, depending on your circumstances and the lender you opt for, result in a mortgage rate of between 2.4% and 3%.

This is certainly an easier decision if you are borrowing just two or three times your income.

If on the other hand you are a buyer stretching yourself on five times you income, or four times your and your partner’s joint income, you may find the peace of mind of a fixed rate more attractive.

Looking at the rates today, a two-year fix can be obtained for between 2.7% and 3.25%, depending on the lender and the percentage of the property’s value you want to borrow.

Rates fixed for five years start at around 4% to 4.5%.

So the best two-year fixes are close in cost to the best base rate trackers, and the long term security of a five-year rate is not frighteningly expensive based on historical comparisons.

Ultimately a fixed rate mortgage is an insurance policy, and you may well be paying more for the product today.

The figures point to a trend of consumers trying to live within their means – with people paying back more of their debts than taking on new debt.

More properties were coming onto the [...]]]> Net consumer credit lending shrank by £0.3bn in April. This was driven by loans and overdrafts where repayments outstripped new lending by £507m.

The figures point to a trend of consumers trying to live within their means – with people paying back more of their debts than taking on new debt.

More properties were coming onto the market, making the market more attractive to buyers.

Some of this new supply could have come from those who had previously been reluctant landlords, and who had been waiting for the market to pick up before selling.

A shortage of homes in the rental sector has pushed up average rents at the start of 2010, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

Surveyors said, during the three months to April, 30% more of its members reported seeing rising rents than those who saw falls.

This was a gloomier picture for tenants than the previous quarter.

Tenant demand was strongest in London and the East of England, where rents also increased the most.

Figures show that the number of homes repossessed dropped from 10,600 in the last three months of 2009 to 9,800 in the first quarter of 2010. This was also lower than the 13,200 of the same [...]]]> The number of homes repossessed in the UK fell by 7.5% in the first three months of 2010, according to lenders.

Figures show that the number of homes repossessed dropped from 10,600 in the last three months of 2009 to 9,800 in the first quarter of 2010.
This was also lower than the 13,200 of the same period a year ago, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said.

But many homeowners remained vulnerable to falling into arrears, the CML said.

It added that it could revise its forecast of 53,000 repossessions in 2010 in the summer, describing it as “pessimistic” if there are no further economic shocks.

The number of homes repossessed was at its lowest in two years, down 7.5% on the previous three months and 26% lower than the first three months of 2009.

Low interest rates were the key to the dropping figures, allowing people – even those who have lost their jobs – to stave off the threat of repossession owing to low mortgage bills.

The figures also reveal that the proportion of mortgage holders getting into payment difficulties also fell in the first three months of the year.

The number of home loans in arrears equivalent to at least 2.5% of the outstanding mortgage balance stood at 186,300 in the first three months of the year.

This was down from 196,400 in the last quarter of 2009, and below the 206,800 of the first quarter of last year.

But the figures gave “no cause for complacency”, according to CML director general Michael Coogan.

Just 629 households have been helped under the mortgage rescue scheme in England, separate figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government show.

When it was launched under the previous Labour government in January 2009, ministers said that up to 6,000 households could be helped by the scheme.

This scheme allows people to sell their property to a local authority or housing association and remain in it as a tenant, or to sell part of the home in a shared equity deal to reduce mortgage payments.

Another 1,849 applications were ongoing by the end of March. In these cases, lenders would hold off any repossession action.

The CML said government support for homeowners had helped keep a lid on repossessions, which are much lower than during the housing slump of the early 1990s.

It has called on the new government to maintain a commitment to those in difficulty – writing a joint letter with Shelter and Citizen’s Advice to the new Chancellor, George Osborne.

This would be particularly important as the government introduces cuts to tackle the fiscal deficit, lenders said.

The availability of mortgages will remain steady, lenders tell the Bank of England. The report also found the availability of credit to businesses increased in the first three months of the year.

This included higher lending to the commercial property sector, and [...]]]> Mortgages and home loans available- but only to those with small loans to value needs.

The availability of mortgages will remain steady, lenders tell the Bank of England. The report also found the availability of credit to businesses increased in the first three months of the year.

This included higher lending to the commercial property sector, and lenders said they expected the increasing approval of loans to the corporate sector to continue in the next three months.

“Lenders reported that the increase in credit availability had been supported by slight improvements in their funding costs and by an improved economic outlook for businesses,” the Bank of England’s Credit Conditions Survey found.

The effect of the freezing weather and the end of temporary stamp duty relief meant that demand for mortgages fell in the first three months of the year, although this is expected to rise again.

The supply of mortgages is set to remain broadly unchanged, reflecting lenders’ expectations that there will be “little change” in conditions in the housing market in the coming months.

The latest mortgage and house price data has suggested a relatively slow start to the year in the UK housing market.

An unexpected fall in the past three months in medium and large firms defaulting on loans was also recorded in the survey.

The poll of 1,200 members suggested 45% thought Wednesday’s budget would damage the economy, while 16% said it would be positive. The rest were neutral.

Mr Darling’s Budget has dented confidence, say [...]]]> More than two thirds of business leaders think labour Chancellor Alistair Darling is doing a bad job, a survey by the Institute of Directors suggests.

The poll of 1,200 members suggested 45% thought Wednesday’s budget would damage the economy, while 16% said it would be positive. The rest were neutral.

Mr Darling’s Budget has dented confidence, say business leaders. Respondents were also sceptical about government plans to cut the fiscal deficit by a half within four years.

The chancellor was also accused of ducking the issue of debt reduction.

The survey, carried out in the 24 hours after the chancellor’s budget speech, suggested 64% business leaders thought the fiscal deficit would get worse following the budget.

A further 12% thought it would get better, and the rest were unsure.

Director general, Miles Templeman, said: “It’s deeply worrying that instead of boosting confidence, the budget appears to have had the opposite effect.

Mrs Jayne Hewett faced losing her home because she could not afford to meet the re-mortgage payments after she divorced and the mortgage company won a [...]]]> A wife who signed a joint re-mortgage with her husband while he was having an affair will no longer have to meet her repayments, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.

Mrs Jayne Hewett faced losing her home because she could not afford to meet the re-mortgage payments after she divorced and the mortgage company won a repossession order.

Mr Justice Briggs, giving the ruling of the three appeal judges, said Mr Hewett “was guilty of a deliberate concealment of the affair, well knowing that its disclosure would have significantly undermined his prospects of obtaining his wife’s consent to his proposal” for a joint re-mortgage to pay his debts.

He allowed her appeal over repossession, saying that concealing his affair from his wife amounted to using undue influence to get her to sign the deal.

First Plus Financial Group can still make a charge on Mr Hewett’s interest in the property which gives them the right to apply for a possession order.

Mrs Hewett bought out her former husband’s interest in Colomb Road, Gorleston, Norfolk, when he was made bankrupt.

Mr and Mrs Hewett married in 1991. By 1999 Mr Hewett was in debt because of overspending on credit cards, said the judge, and the couple, together with Mrs Hewett’s mother, bought a home for all the family for £51,000.

In 2002 the property was remortgaged to cover the cost of extensions and pay off more debts run up by the husband.

By the end of 2003 Mr Hewett’s credit card debts had substantially increased again and, but unknown to Mrs Hewett, he had started an affair.

At the time of the remortgage in 2004, Mrs Hewett believed she was in a “happy, stable relationship”, said the judge.

“Mr Hewett recognised that he and his family faced the loss of their home if his debts could not be re-financed on a secured basis, so as to reduce the overall interest burden to a level within the family’s means,” said Mr Justice Briggs.

He said Mrs Hewett refused to sign the mortgage deal at first, because she was unwilling to risk the family home.

“She was told by her husband that a charge on the property was the only way to rescue the family from its plight, and eventually decided to accede to her husband’s request.”

She said she was told it was the only way to keep the house – “a horrible choice”.

The husband was convicted of forging the name of his mother-in-law on the mortgage form because he feared she would cause difficulties, said the judge.

Mrs Hewett found out about the affair in May 2004 and in January 2005 her husband moved out and they were divorced in 2006.

The same year he lost his job and was made bankrupt with debts including a further £40,000 on credit cards.

She bought out his share in the property for £1 but found it impossible to maintain the instalments to First Plus and possessions proceedings began in 2008.

A county court judge granted the mortgage company possession.

This judge found that although Mrs Hewett faced a “horrible choice”, she made up her own mind to join in the remortgage without oppression, bullying or threats.

Mr Justice Briggs said: “It is evident that Mrs Hewett’s decision to accede to her husband’s request was based upon an assumption on her part that he was as committed as she was to the marriage, to the family and to the preservation of their home life in the future.

“The truth was that he had already embarked upon an affair which, although by no means a certainty, carried with it the serious risk that it would lead in due course to Mr Hewett’s departure from the family and withdrawal of both emotional and financial support, as eventually occurred.

The result was, said the judge, that he would set aside the mortgage on which First Plus bases its claim.