NOEL GRIMA

It may be due to a sort of reflex action following what happened in Florida and even more recently in the case of the British mortgage bank Northern Star, but one cannot help but note that notices regarding repossessions by banks and similar legal actions against people owning money have greatly increased in the Government Gazette.

Two very recent issues of the Government Gazette contain no less than 24 in one case and 13 in the other, notices of judicial auctions, claims before the Small Claims Tribunal and other legal actions taken by people or companies that are owned money.

The 14 September issue, for instance, contained 10 claims by telecom companies (two dating from the days when Telemalta existed, six by a mobile company), three claims by a bank against a production house, and notices of auctions regarding a quarry, flats and other property and a batching plant.

The 18 September issue contained notices of auctions regarding a supermarket, a toyshop, and a poultry farm, apart from other properties, as well as claims by the two mobile companies and the VAT department.

There are other claims for overdue payment, which are handled without ever appearing in the Government Gazette people in the financial sector told this newspaper, and, despite the optimistic declarations that are the order of the day, the cases of people who have fallen behind in their payments are on the increase.

The increase in notices in the Government Gazette are an indication, but nothing more than an indication, that like in so many other countries, a lot of people are financially over-extended.