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Council housing company to offer Rent to Buy
Liverpool City Council’s housing company is set to start building homes for a new Rent to Buy scheme.
The company, Foundations, will start with a pilot of 14 new homes in Dingle in the south of the city if the council’s cabinet approves the plans at a meeting on 21 June.
People will be able to rent a home at 80% of the market rate in order to help them save towards a mortgage to buy the property, with the option to purchase after 12 months and for up to five years at market value.
The scheme will be available to people who live or work in Liverpool and are first-time buyers or have had to sell a home because of a relationship breakdown.
To be eligible, buyers must be in work but unable to save enough for a deposit on an open market home.
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Redwing Living, part of 13,000-home housing association Regenda Group, will act as managing agent for the 14-home scheme.
Mark Kitts, chief executive of Foundations, said: “We can make a real difference to people’s lives by giving them an opportunity they would not otherwise get to buy a home for themselves and their families.
“It gives people a stake in their communities and helps us in our broader ambitions to improve neighbourhoods and improve the quality of the city’s housing.
“At this stage we are only able to offer 14 homes under the scheme. We understand that demand might be far in excess of that so we will be working hard to offer new homes under the scheme in the coming months and years.
“Our promise is to be as fair as we can be in making these opportunities available to people who register their interest.”
Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson said: “The work of Foundations and the new Rent to Buy scheme complements our council housebuilding plans.
“Buying is not for everyone, for a range of reasons, so it is important that we do what we can to help people in every situation to get the home they deserve.”
Foundations launched in December with ambitions to build 10,000 homes over the next 10 years in a range of tenures.
Liverpool City Council also announced plans last month to reopen its Housing Revenue Account in order to start building council homes for the first time in 30 years.
Rent to Buy, sometimes called Rent to Own, has had limited success nationwide with only 10% of people successfully purchasing a home through the last government-funded scheme.
The Welsh government launched its own similar scheme in February last year.
