16
Jul
Flint announces plans to help first-time buyers
Housing minister Carline Flint has today announced a number of
measures and reforms intended to help those struggling to get onto
the property ladder.
First-time buyers may be helped by a new pilot scheme called Rent
to Home Buy, which will offer a discounted rate of rent of 80 per
cent of the market rent or less. This will enable tenants to save
for their own home.
Eligible households who have an annual income of £60,000 or
less will be entitled to the reduced rent for two to three years.
They will then be offered a part share in the home, under the
proposed scheme.
The proposal would allow first-time buyers to benefit from greater
choice and flexibility.
Ms Flint described the plans as "ambitious, but also practical and
realistic".
"The package being announced today will both help people facing
difficulties right now, and lay the foundations to help meet the
long term housing needs of the country," she said.
While the aim to build more homes was welcomed by the Town and
Country Planning Association, its chief executive Gideon Amos said
more could be done to provide new land for building homes.
