1 in 8 women with a joint mortgage have been victims of financial abuse

One in eight women in the UK who had a joint mortgage in the last two years have been abused by a current or former partner using their joint mortgage loan, according to a report by the charity Surviving Economic Abuse.

The report, ‘Locked into a mortgage, locked out of my home’, funded by the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, reported that 750,000 people have fallen victim to collective economic abuse of mortgage loans.

It states that perpetrators cause economic harm by refusing to pay their agreed share of the mortgage, agree to new terms or sell.

This mortgage-based abuse lures surviving victims into the traps of dangerous abusers, while those who escape are driven into housing insecurity and debt due to ongoing economic abuse.

I and my children remain trapped in a mortgage prison from which there is no escape

Sam Smethers, interim CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse, said: “Mortgage abuse is a hidden crime that is destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of survivors.

“Currently, abusers who use family violence to inflict economic harm on joint mortgages by refusing to pay their agreed share, agree to new terms or sell.

“Forced to pay the entire mortgage bill, it is almost impossible for the survivors to escape to safety.”

A personal experience

To illustrate the impact of this abuse, the charity told the personal story of Sarah, who left her abusive ex-husband and subsequently became a victim of mortgage abuse.

Sarah's ex-husband stopped making contributions to the joint mortgage and began to stop paying child support.

She knew she could not pay the mortgage payments or provide for her children's basic needs, but her tormentor blocked all of Sarah's attempts to sell the property or negotiate a better interest rate.

Sarah had to pay tens of thousands of pounds as part of her divorce and financial compensation proceedings, but was unable to remove the abuser from the mortgage.

“I was forced to rely on food banks and even left the heating off in winter so that I could pay as much of my mortgage as possible each month,” says Sarah.

“But I still couldn’t afford to maintain the mortgage and make ends meet, especially as the cost of living continued to rise, so I eventually fell into arrears.

“More than a decade after I left my abusive husband, he is still stuck with our joint mortgage.

“I cannot sell the property without his permission and he can use his position at any time to prevent me from repaying the mortgage loan by withholding child support payments.

“I and my children are trapped in a mortgage prison from which there is no escape.”

action

The report calls for a number of measures to address this problem, including calls on financial services firms to step up their support for customers who have fallen victim to collective mortgage fraud.

In addition, financial service providers should take measures available under existing policies to make it more difficult for perpetrators to cause economic harm through joint mortgages.

It also called on the Financial Services Authority to clarify and strengthen rules and guidance for firms to prevent customers being exposed to foreseeable harm resulting from the misuse of common mortgage products and services that are commercially abused.

Smethers added: “Only an urgent change in the law can stop abuse.”

She therefore called on the government to set up a working group to combat economic abuse to prevent abusers from using joint mortgages as a “weapon”.

“The government must also ensure that tackling economic abuse is at the heart of its mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade,” she added.

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