The extent that many people in the UK have multiple loans could lead to more defaults on mortgages this year.

Property research group UKValuation, has highlighted that a large number of homeowners have more than one loan secured on their property which ultimately does not give a true picture risk involved for lenders.

Mark Witherspoon, chief executive of UKValuation says that that many lenders price the risk of lending on a property in ignorance of other charges that may be on it. So if a bank lends 75% of a property's value, the homeowner may then take additional secured loans with other lenders and therefore face a true LTV of, say, 110%, making him or her much more likely to default.

"The loan will behave like a 110% loan because the borrower knows his true level of debt. He will read about slowing house prices and is much more likely to default on the mortgage payments than Mr 75%," said Witherspoon, a former head of the property research firm Hometrack. "Until all lenders start to record 2nd, 3rd and 4th charges properly, this will be a major hidden risk in the UK mortgage market," said Wetherspoon