Why Rent to Buy

Why Rent to Buy?

A generation of young people and young families are being locked out of the housing market without a hope of ever sharing in the asset wealth of the generation before them. We’ve started our Rent To Buy scheme to set people free from a lifetime of renting.
Getting together the deposit to buy a property, and earning enough to qualify for a mortgage, are the major obstacles which prevent people from owning their own home. Our Rent To Buy initiative overcomes the major obstacles.

• Our Rent To Buy contract is over 3 years
• Buyers can choose to exercise the option to buy after year
• The sale price is fixed at the start of the contract, which provides certainty for the buyer and insulates against the effect of house price inflation in a rising market.
• Rental payments will be equivalent to between 15% – 25% of the sale price, equally split over 36 months. The monthly rent paid is not wasted money, it’s saved to become the deposit when the Right To Buy is exercised after 3 years (2 years if that option is taken)
• All the rent paid at the end of 3 years (or 2 years if that option is taken) will become available as deposit money when the Right To Buy is exercised. This means that the rent paid is being put to good use, and not just disappearing into a landlord’s pocket.
• The amount the buyer will need to borrow will be considerably less as the amount they paid in rent for the last 3 years will go towards the cost of the property in the form of a deposit.
• The value of the property will potentially increase over the 3 year period, but, very importantly, the sale price is fixed at the start of the 3 year period.
• Purchasers will benefit from a minimum 99 year lease at the end of the Rent To Buy contract (only applicable on apartments and leasehold dwellings).
• Purchasers will fully own the property, as opposed to shared ownership schemes where the purchaser only owns part of the property.
• It is our vision to make our properties affordable