Britons have been falling into arrears at a greater pace than in previous years, but according to brokers the lenders are showing more forbearance now than historically.
Both buy-to-let investors and individual homeowners have been struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, according to figures from Octane Capital.
Its latest analysis of UK Finance figures for 2023 has found the number of landlords falling into arrears has climbed by 93 per cent in a single year - equating to 13,750 landlords missing payments on their mortgage in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Individual homeowners have seen a 22 per cent increase year on year. In 2023, 85,028 homeowners fell into mortgage arrears, over eight times the number of landlords.
But mortgage advisers and brokers have said lenders are "doing everything in their power" to prevent people being repossessed.
Martin Stewart, founder of London Money, said: "We don't seem to be seeing the repossessions we were all worried about. Lenders are very different these days to the past so I don’t think we will see mass sell-offs like the early 1990s."
He added: "I spoke to a lender about this recently. They said they had a [multiple-step] process to go through covering lots of options before they even got close to starting repossession. That is always their last resort and one they themselves want to avoid."
Stewart pointed to one particular lender - TSB - who he felt had been offering a variety of options to borrowers to help support them through their arrears.
TSB, along with other lenders, has signed up to the Mortgage Charter, and aims to offer a range of options to help customers struggling with mortgage payments.
Similarly, it offers ways for customers to contact the bank directly, as well as contacting clients where there is evidence of financial difficulty, to put payment plans in place.
Nicola Bannister, TSB’s customer support director, said: “We are here to help customers experiencing financial difficulty and home repossessions are always a last resort.
"We have joined the government’s Mortgage Charter to help customers stay in their home and we offer a range of options to customers who are struggling with mortgage payments.
"Anyone worried about their mortgage repayments can contact us for help and guidance, without any impact on their credit file”.
Sebastian Reimann, director of Virtus Private Finance, said it was not something he had seen with his clients, but generally believed lenders were "more lenient these days - at the direction of the regulator".
He said: "Many lenders also factor in the reputational risk of taking a heavy-handed approach",
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
