Rentplus affordable homes are suitable for anyone who is local to an area, is working or in training, wants to own their own home at some point in the future, has an income of less than £80,000 a year (in line with ‘Help-to-Buy Shared Ownership’) and is currently unable to save for a deposit. Our residents are usually key or essential workers with a link to the local area. The average Rentplus household income is £33,000. To be considered, you generally need to be on your Local Authority (LA) choice-based lettings housing register, shared ownership register or Help-to-Buy register.
Rentplus buys new houses from developers. These are let on 20-year full repairing leases to Registered Providers (RPs), also known as housing associations (HAs). HAs work with councils to allocate the Rentplus homes, usually through local choice-based lettings or local housing waiting lists. Successful applicants must want to own their own home, have a provable income, and they usually have a local connection to the area.
If your application is successful you can move into your new home without paying a penny in deposit. You pay an affordable rent (usually 80% or LHA), which is cheaper than a private rental for similar accommodation. The rent paid to the Housing Association includes all repairs for the rental period, which ranges from 5 to 20 years.
The shortest rental period is five years and the longest is 20 years, giving you the chance to clear any residual debt such as student, credit card or mobile phone debt. A county court judgment is not a barrier as the rental period gives you time to build a strong credit rating and save money. Residents report saving up to £200 a month from when they first move in. The monthly sum saved is often the difference between the private rent you were paying and the lower Rentplus rent.
At the end of your agreed rental period, (either 5, 10, 15 or 20 years), you will have the option to buy your home. When you buy your home, Rentplus will give you 10% of the value of your home as a gifted deposit to help you with your mortgage.
Rentplus can be flexible, so if you want to buy earlier than planned then you may be able to swap the option to buy with another tenant who wants to rent their property for a longer period. If you are not able to buy at the end of your agreed rental period, then you must let us know as soon as possible as we may be able to swap your option with another tenant on a longer rental period who would like to buy early.
Rentplus wants to operate in every county in England. We started in Plymouth, Devon, working with Plymouth Council and Tamar Housing, and have spread quickly to offer our affordable rent-to-buy homes all the way across England up to the North East. We currently have more than 32,000 homes in our pipeline across the country – houses we are either bidding for or have secured.
Rentplus is a privately owned company with a social conscience. We are funded through institutional investors, pension funds and have access to the bond markets to make affordable rent-to-buy a reality for working people across the country.
Rentplus is the only rent-to-buy model that allows you to move without paying a penny’s deposit into a brand new home, rent it and then buy 100% of that home. This gives you time to save a deposit and build or rebuild a good credit rating – a requirement for any mortgage. We are also the only provider of affordable housing to give you 10% of your home’s value when you come to buy, boosting the deposit you have already saved. What is more, you are not responsible for repairs and maintenance bills while you are renting and there are no restrictions on what you can do to or how you sell your property.
This means our residents can more into A new homes on a lower average income than needed for both shared ownership and rent-to-buy. The average household income of our residents is £33,000, compared with more than £50,000 for other schemes.
