The UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, has found itself at the centre of a scathing attack by the Council of Mortgage Lenders recently over its plans to try and restrict mortgage lending in order to cut risks and reduce irresponsible lending.

The FSA has stated that it has plans to bring a number of measures in to restrict mortgage lending in the UK and cut out high risk loans, and this includes scrapping interest only mortgages, capping the amount that consumers can borrow, and slowing down applications.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has slated the FSA for its plans, stating that these measures could have a serious impact on consumers and house prices. The CML said that many people would lose their dreams of homeownership as a result of the measures, and property prices could be driven down.

The CML said that consumers were right to be concerned about the plans from the FSA, as they could have a serious impact on the housing market as a whole, and could leave many of those hoping to get onto the property ladder out in the cold. The group also said that the FSA had admitted that these plans would probably lead to property values in the UK falling.

Michael Coogan from the Council of Mortgage Lenders said: “This is just one of a number of unintended consequences of the FSA’s well-meaning but misguided proposals that the CML believes the UK’s existing 11 million mortgage borrowers have every right to be concerned about.”

The FSA said: “We are keen to ensure that people who can afford a mortgage can get one, and also to protect vulnerable consumers by making sure that anyone who does take on a mortgage can afford to pay it back.”