ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the reality for those who encounter difficulty in maintaining payments for housing is in fact tenure neutral. It describes the distinct ways in which borrowers’ and tenants’ possession hearings are dealt with by the legal system. The chapter examines the impact of tenure on the distribution of the outcomes of such hearings, focusing on the complex interrelationship between the different ways in which tenants and borrowers in debt are treated within the legal system and the outcomes of judicial possession action. It shows that following possession action borrowers were twice as likely as tenants to be at risk of enforced eviction. A more uniform approach taken by judges was noted in relation to tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit. Interviews with tenants showed that they clearly considered the system to be degrading and embarrassing as their personal and financial affairs were aired in public.
