Anna Lo MLA said: “It is really positive that we are seeing the regeneration of areas, but we need to reform the current procedure for vesting property as it could leave a lot of homeowners in financial difficult. The level of reimbursement they get for their house could be much reduced from the amount they originally paid for it and this will leave them in negative equity.
“Those affected could be left in serious debt to their bank and I believe that this is totally unfair. We need to look at how we ensure they get a genuinely fair deal.
“Also landlords are affected because they are losing out financially because of vesting. As the rental income from their properties can often be their livelihood they are also being put in an extremely difficult position too.
“It also takes a long time for money from vesting to come through and I have real concerns about this too. We need to make the system fairer and I hope this debate will help in doing this.”
ENDS