One in eight women who held a joint mortgage in the last two years experienced “joint mortgage economic abuse” from a current or former partner, according to a report by charity Surviving Economic Abuse. 

This figure equates to 750,000 women, who suffer from partners refusing to pay their agreed share of the mortgage, agree to new terms, or sell up. 

This mortgage-based abuse traps victim-survivors with dangerous abusers, while those who flee are forced into housing insecurity and debt because of ongoing economic abuse.   

The report, ‘Locked into a mortgage, locked out of my home’, is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.

It urges the government to set up a cross-government task force on economic abuse with financial services, legal, and domestic abuse experts “to strengthen protections for victim-survivors and stop perpetrators from using joint mortgages to abuse”.

The study contains a poll which asked women who have or had a joint mortgage in the last two years whether they had experienced mortgage-related abuse from a current or ex-partner.

Of those who had it found:

• 78% felt unable to leave their partner or an unsafe living arrangement due to abuse through the joint mortgage

• 89% experienced negative mental health impacts because of the abuse, such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, or suicidal thoughts     

• 49% had to cut back on utilities or go without essentials, such as food, clothing, or toiletries, to cover monthly mortgage repayments

The study says: “Under current laws, both mortgage holders are jointly and separately responsible for the whole mortgage debt, and any changes to the terms, such as switching interest rates or removing one party from the mortgage, require both parties’ consent. 

“This stands even in domestic abuse cases.”

Surviving Economic interim chief executive Abuse Sam Smethers adds: “Being forced to foot the full mortgage bill makes it near-impossible for survivors to flee to safety. 

“For those who do escape, they remain tied to the abuser who can plunge them into mountains of debt.”

“We urge the government to set up an economic abuse task force to prevent abusers from weaponising joint mortgages.”

Surviving Economic Abuse commissioned data firm Opinium to survey 1,178 nationally representative women who currently, or in the past two year, have held a joint mortgage between 11 and 22 July.