Giving Up Home Ownership: A Qualitative Study of Voluntary Possession and Selling because of Financial Difficulties

Research on the drivers, experience and outcomes for borrowers who have voluntarily given back their homes or sold because of financial difficulties. Carried out by the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York, the report looks at existing research, the characteristics and journeys of households giving voluntary possession or selling in response to financial difficulties, mortgage arrears, and outcomes. Recommendations include the development of wider safety-nets to protect against failed self-employment and relationship breakdown, a greater role (with more resources and training) for the advice sector, and support by policy makers and lenders for voluntary possession which, as the report notes, currently jeopardises entitlement to alternative accommodation under homelessness legislation.