‘The mortgage increase means I can’t afford to live here anymore’ – BBC News

When Nadine McKenna checked her phone notifications in February, she never imagined she would eventually have to sell her house.

Ms McKenna’s banking app broke the news that her mortgage would increase by £240 a month.

“My first reaction was fear,” the single mother from Lisburn told BBC News NI.

“How am I going to handle this? Where will the money come from? And how am I going to keep a roof over my head and that of my son?

“And then I had to think, ‘I can’t afford to live here. What are my next options?’”

The number of people in Northern Ireland at serious risk of having their homes repossessed has risen by almost 25% in the first three months of the year.

Between January and March, 285 homeowners faced legal action after defaulting on their mortgage payments, according to Justice Department data.

This is the highest number of new cases since the start of 2020, but remains below pre-pandemic levels.

To avoid the threat of foreclosure, Mrs. McKenna had no choice but to sell the house she had lived in for thirteen years.

“That was my first house I ever bought. I bought it myself. I put all my money into it. I put my heart and soul into it,” she says.

“It’s heartbreaking.”

Mrs McKenna was already paying more than £1,000 a month in childcare on top of her household bills and was forced to ask her family for financial support.

Her sister agreed to help buy a smaller house in Lurgan for Mrs McKenna and her young son.

“I’m 38. I never thought I would have to rely on my little sister to help me get a mortgage,” Ms McKenna said.

“I can’t believe this is actually happening.”

Homeowners across the UK have felt the pressure of higher mortgage payments as interest rates have risen to their highest level in 16 years.

The latest figures from Northern Ireland show that 78 final seizure orders were issued in the first three months of this year.

A manager at the charity Housing Rights, which provides free legal advice and emergency legal aid to people facing repossession, said the process can be harrowing.

“We never find out that someone is not paying their mortgage, there are always reasons for it,” says Aisling Cunningham.

‘It can be accompanied by illness, grief, the breakdown of a relationship – whatever.

“Some of the stories people tell you are very difficult.”

Ms Cunningham said that because homeowners are in debt, they are unlikely to receive legal aid or be able to afford a lawyer – meaning charities such as Housing Rights are their only hope.

“The huge increases in private rents and the lack of social housing mean there are fewer options for these people,” she says.

“These situations are therefore becoming increasingly charged.”

Recent research from Housing Rights shows that people with disabilities, those on lower incomes and older homeowners are particularly vulnerable to repossession.

The data shows that many of those struggling to pay have interest-only or variable rate mortgages, deals that have been particularly affected by the Bank of England raising rates 14 times in three years.

Nadine McKenna is one of tens of thousands of homeowners in Northern Ireland expected to take out a new mortgage this year when their fixed interest rates expire – a situation described by an Ulster University property expert as a ‘mortgage time bomb’.

Dr. Michael McCord said those who refinance their mortgages will have to accept much higher rates than in the deals they made during the pandemic, when interest rates were at historic lows.