‘Rising mortgages mean I can’t afford to live here anymore’

When Nadine McKenna checked her phone ad in February, she never thought she’d have to sell her house.

Mrs McKenna’s bank app brought up news that her mortgage was due to rise by £240 a month.

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

“How can I do it? Where will the money come from? And how do I keep a roof over my head and my son’s?

“And then I had to start thinking, ‘I can’t afford to live here. What are my other options?'”

The number of people in Northern Ireland who are at serious risk of being taken from their homes 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 mortgages, according to Justice Department figures.

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

To avoid the threat of foreclosure, Ms. McKenna had no choice but to sell the home she had lived in for 13 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 said.

“It’s heartbreaking.

Mrs McKenna, who was already paying more than £1,000 a month in childcare on top of her household bills, 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’d have to rely on my younger sister to help me get a mortgage,” Ms McKenna said.

“I can’t believe this is actually happening.

Home owners in the UK felt the pressure to raise their mortgage repayments as interest rates rose to their highest level in 16 years.

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

The manager of the Housing Rights charity, which provides free legal advice and emergency court representation to people facing repossession, said the process can be harrowing.

“We never see someone just defaulting on their mortgage, there’s always a reason behind it,” said Aisling Cunningham.

“It could involve illness, bereavement, a relationship break-up – anything.

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

Ms Cunningham said that because the homeowners were in debt, they were unlikely to get legal aid or afford a solicitor – meaning charities such as Housing Rights were their only hope.

“With the huge increase in private rents and the lack of social housing, there are fewer options for these people,” she said.

“So these situations are getting more and more tense.

Research recently released by Housing Rights shows that people with disabilities, people on lower incomes and older homeowners are particularly vulnerable to re-possession.

The figures suggest that many of those struggling to repay are on interest-only or variable-rate mortgages, deals which have been particularly affected as the Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 times in three years.

Nadine McKenna is one of tens of thousands of homeowners in Northern Ireland who are expected to switch mortgages this year as their fixed rate contracts expire – a situation described by an Ulster University property expert as a “mortgage time bomb”.

Dr. Michael McCord said these remortgages will have to accept much higher rates than the deals they secured during the pandemic, when interest rates were historically low.