The Rentplus affordable rent to buy homes delivered last year in Mannamead, Plymouth, and developed with partners Pillar Land, Tamar Housing (now Willow Tree Housing) and Plymouth City Council has been shortlisted for Best Regeneration Project (rural and suburban) for the Inside Housing Development Awards.
The winner will be announced on 4 November 2021 and will celebrate over 130 outstanding developments and the teams and individuals behind these across the country. To find out more, visit: https://bit.ly/3eLA4FT
In partnership with Archerfield Homes and Impact Modular, we’ll be providing affordable housing for local people looking to buy their home but unable to save for a deposit. This is the first construction of modular housing to offer our award-winning affordable Rent to Buy solution.
The development in Monks Eleigh, Suffolk, will include 5 Rentplus homes. At Rentplus we pride ourselves on the sustainability of our homes which meet and often surpasses latest government guidelines, minimising their carbon footprint and therefore impact on the environment. Through Impact Modular’s “sustainable construction” process, carbon emissions are approximately 30% lower than traditional construction means.
The development will reach completion later summer 2021, with the first residents expected to move in before the autumn.
Rentplus tenants move into a brand new home with no deposit, pay affordable rent on the property for a period of 5-20 years and are offered the chance to buy at 5 year intervals. This gives them time to clear debts, and save money, and to build a strong credit rating. At the point of purchase, we gift our tenants 10% of their property price towards their deposit.
Jack Randall, Chief Commercial Officer at Impact Modular, said:
“The Government has an ambition for the UK to be Carbon Net Zero by 2050 and has set out clear guidelines to launch a Green Industrial Revolution. Friars View represents Impact’s commitment to financing forward-thinking developers like Archerfield Homes who are committed to build using sustainable construction methods on their developments.”
Steve Collins, Chief Executive at Rentplus, said:
“This initial scheme is the first in the 350+ unit development pipeline alongside Impact Modular and Archerfield and we’re very proud to be able to offer affordable rent to buy homes to local people, giving them access to homeownership without the need for a deposit.”
“Our award-winning affordable rent to buy solution gives local key workers on lower and middle incomes the chance to own their own home because we remove the deposit barrier that stops them accessing other homeownership tenures. This, and the 10% gifted sum when they buy, provides a much-needed solution for first time buyers in this difficult climate.”
In response to confirmation of a Planning Bill in the Queen’s Speech, Steve Collins, CEO of affordable housing provider Rentplus, said:
“With the introduction of the 95% deposit mortgage scheme and the stamp duty holiday, house prices have soared to unprecedented levels. Without a sufficient system of ensuring supply can keep up with demand, the current rapid inflation will further lock out those on low to middle incomes from getting a foot on the property ladder.
“Currently, out of date local plans mean councils are not accepting new applications for privately funded affordable housing schemes. We welcome the requirement for all local authorities to have up to date local plans. In order to tackle the affordability gap, it is imperative that local authorities capitalise on the opportunity to ensure more affordable housing tenures are included, including those funded privately.
“These schemes continue to play a significant role in boosting the overall number of homes particularly for first-time buyers on lower incomes, helping reduce demand for social housing by removing aspirant homeowners from waiting lists. Increasing investment from the private sector in affordable housing will be a key means by which the government can deliver on its promise to help more people to own their home.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the way we live and it’s no exaggeration to say the impact it has had on an already problematic housing market has been hugely negative.
The Chancellor’s decision to implement a stamp duty holiday, whilst well intentioned, has driven house prices up, forcing an even higher proportion of people out of the market. The Covid impact has been laid bare by the recent numbers from the Halifax showing that the average house costs £252,765 – completely out of reach for millions of people.
The irony is that those people most affected are those that we have celebrated during the pandemic: our key and essential workers.
Despite being able to afford to pay a monthly mortgage, they are unable to secure one because of the challenges in saving the huge deposit when paying high private rents. They therefore end up being trapped in a vicious circle in the rental market, unable to put aside any significant savings.
Millions of pounds have been pumped into home buying schemes by government. Despite this, many nurses, care workers and other key and essential workers remain unable to buy their own home.
We don’t believe that’s fair.
Government schemes such as shared ownership, Help to Buy and the new First Homes simply won’t plug that hole, because they fail to address one of the key barriers for this group – the need for a deposit.
We believe it is time to break that vicious circle.
We know from experience that alternatives to deposit-reliant schemes really do work. They help people that don’t have the ability to save to get on the path to home ownership.
Our own rent-to-buy scheme is helping people who’ve previously written off the prospect of buying a quality house. The first cohort who moved in to a Rentplus home five years ago, without a deposit, are on the cusp of completing on buying 100% of their home, thanks to Rentplus and a 10% gifted sum towards their deposit.
We want to be handing over many more keys to aspirant homeowners – and we’re actively looking for new developments across the country to help those who dream of it to get on the property ladder.
Our affordable Rent to Buy is by no means the only answer to the housing market problem: but alternative, innovative options such as Rentplus could go a long way in relieving the issue.
Steve Collins
CEO Rentplus-UK
Why isn’t your Housing Association offering Rentplus? We offer registered providers much needed new income streams without additional borrowing whilst widening the choice of affordable housing offered locally, helping you support Key and Essential workers who aspire to homeownership.
Rentplus was mentioned in the Guardian’s weekend supplement for First Time Buyers!
Rentplus was mentioned in the Guardian’s weekend supplement for First Time Buyers. You can read what they had to say about us here.
David Marshall, Executive Chair of Rentplus, was delighted to be invited by Anthony Gahan as the first guest on his podcast “Against the Tide”, and to discuss Rentplus as a positive disruptor in social and affordable housing.
The podcast is available to listen to on Spotify and Apple Music.
“Rentplus is an incredible business – making the dream of affordable home ownership a reality with its unique model. I have posted before on this huge societal issue which needs to be embraced by us all.” – Anthony Gahan
SHARED OWNERSHIP WILL NOT PROVIDE ALL THE ANSWERS FOR KEY WORKERS HOPING TO BUY
Steve Collins, CEO
This article first appeared in the Red Brick blog: February 2021
The Government has made the startling admission that it does not know how many people have transitioned to full ownership under its Shared Ownership model. Despite not knowing how effective it is, it is making Shared Ownership a key pillar of its “central mission” of helping more people to own their home.
Bids have opened for the next Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) and the Government has set out its expectation that the tenure will account for the “vast majority” of the home ownership homes it funds.
Whilst the proposed new Shared Ownership model will make it easier both for people to buy an initial stake and then to increase their equity in the property, for some, the uncertainty over exactly how long it will take them to fully own their home will still not suit their needs. If you buy an initial 10% stake, after 15 years of gradual staircasing at 1% you would still only own 25% of the home. Legal fees apply at each increase and if shared owners want to buy larger shares using the existing process then all fees (valuation and legal) remain their responsibility. However large their share is, tenants also have to pay 100% of service charges.
For some aspiring homeowners, this part-rent, part-own process therefore remains complicated, uncertain and unattractive. Yet with the number of mortgage deals for those with 5% deposits remaining almost non-existent, house prices continuing to increase and a partial public-sector pay freeze, key workers and those on lower incomes who cannot save for a large deposit will struggle to buy on the open market.
As we have argued before in this blog, the key to widening access to home ownership is addressing the difficulty in saving for a deposit. It is this that is blocking many renters who could afford mortgage repayments from being able to buy a home. This has been compounded by coronavirus. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s annual report on poverty highlights that 41% of private renters who have seen a drop in income since March have had to use their savings to make up for shortfalls in income. Savings that they might have been hoping to use for a house deposit. Many others didn’t have any savings to fall back on; over two thirds of social renters and almost half of private renters in the bottom half of the income distribution had less than £500. This also raises the question of how many social renters would be able to afford to exercise the new ‘Right to Shared Ownership’ that is a condition for all social and affordable rented homes funded under the AHP.
Rent to buy schemes do address this hurdle by not requiring any initial deposit when people move into a brand new house. They also provide a clear and defined route to full ownership with tenants buying their home outright at a set 5 yearly interval. Paying only an affordable rent enables them to save more for a deposit than if they were renting privately and at Rentplus we add to that by giving them a gifted lump sum of 10% of the value of the property when they are ready to buy.
In the meantime all repair and maintenance costs are covered by the landlord and service charges are included up until the point they become full homeowners.
Unlike the unknown effectiveness of shared ownership in helping people to fully own their home, this spring the first of Rentplus’ tenants will become 100% homeowners after just 5 years.
Whilst local authorities rightly remain concerned about providing homes for those in the greatest need, rent to buy has a positive knock-on impact. Up to two thirds of the tenants moving into affordable rent to buy properties to date had been on the local housing waiting list. In some areas up to half of tenants have moved out of existing social housing; freeing this up to be re-allocated to those most in need. Over half of all our tenants are key workers.
Rentplus’ model is fully funded by institutional investment bringing in additional housing finance and enabling the council to direct their grant funding to delivering social rented homes. There is significant interest in the sector from investors and an emerging market of SME providers.
With Homes England reporting a 34% decrease in affordable home ownership scheme starts over the six months to September 2020, whilst coronavirus was a factor, this highlights the importance of the much greater role that privately funded providers can play in boosting the overall number of homes for first-time buyers with no reliance on Government funding.
The Government and local authorities should do more to support innovative home ownership models and encourage their development on a much wider scale instead of putting all their eggs in the unproven, shared ownership basket.
https://redbrickblog.co.uk/2021/02/shared-ownership-will-not-provide-all-the-answers-for-key-workers-hoping-to-buy/#comments
To support an equal recovery from the pandemic we need to ensure that a wider range of people can achieve their home ownership ambitions, not just those on middle to higher incomes. There need to be accessible routes into ownership for those who struggle to save.
Treasury intervention through the form of Help to Buy has been successful in boosting the supply of new homes. However, a significant number of those who have benefitted from the Scheme are those who could have already bought anyway, so it has not necessarily helped to reduce intergenerational inequality in housing by widening access to the housing ladder.
The winding down of Help to Buy in 2023, with the associated reduction in housebuilding, makes it even more important that other providers can step in to deliver home ownership initiatives to support those who cannot afford to buy on the open market.
Read the Rentplus response to the Treasury An Equal Recovery enquiry here
Are you interested in our affordable rent to buy apartments in Bracknell?
Rentplus offers a way for working people to get on to the housing ladder through affordable rent to buy. We’re thrilled to be working closely in partnership with the Winchester Housing Trust to give local people the chance to move from being renters to homeowners, without needing large deposits other tenures require to move in.
Our virtual tour video below will show you the one and two bedroomed apartments at Eagle House.
How does Rentplus work?
Tenants move in without a deposit. They pay a discounted rent for a minimum of 5 years (at 80% of the open market rent), giving them time to build a good credit rating, and save towards their home purchase. With agreement from Winchester Housing Trust, tenants may choose to extend tenancies to rent for up to 20 years but have the option to purchase 100% of their home after 5, 10, 15 or 20 years: this will be agreed at the start. When ready to purchase, tenants are given a 10% gifted deposit from Rentplus towards their deposit.
About the properties
Our Rentplus homes in Eagle House are either one or two bedroomed apartments. Your landlord will be Winchester Housing Trust whilst you rent. They will be responsible for repairs to the property as set out in your tenancy agreement whilst you are renting. The rents are set at 80% of the local market rate, and this figure has been agreed by the council.
Rent
The rent for the One Bed is £760 and the two bed is £920. This is not negotiable. It represents 80% of the equivalent of private rental rates in the area. The minimum rental period is 5 years. This can be extended to a maximum of 20 years. Residents will need to demonstrate that they are aspirant home owners, and look to save money each month towards their purchase. You will be offered the first chance to buy after 5 years.
Am I eligible?
These are rent-to-buy homes: applicants must be working and have aspirations to buy their own home within a 5, 10, 15 or 20 year period. As agreed with the local authority, priority will be given to those who can demonstrate a local connection to the area; however this does not mean you will not be considered if you do not have a local connection. Our Rentplus properties will be advertised on Hampshire Home Choice, a lettings system that allows social housing applicants to bid for their property of choice.
How do I apply?
Once you have completed the virtual viewing, you will be asked to complete an application form which you can find here. You will need to provide details of income and other personal information. This will allow the first stage of the assessment to be completed. We will then set up a virtual meeting with you and Winchester Housing Trust where you will be able to ask questions about the scheme. We would like you to review the virtual show reel of the property and think about whether you want a one or two bedroomed apartment.
If you are ready to apply for a property you can download an application form here: WHT Rentplus Application Form.
Please complete the form, sign and return to:
Winchester Housing Trust
Westgate Chambers
Staple Gardens Winchester
Hampshire
SO23 8SR
If you don’t have access to a printer please email [email protected] or phone us on 01962 790588 and we will post a form to you.
Data will be held in compliance with GDPR.
If you have questions in the interim, you can send them to [email protected]
COVID-19 UPDATE: In line with the latest government guidelines we have made initial virtual tours available for property viewings. Those looking to move home can still attend property viewings. Households are allowed to move home as long as they are doing so safely and removal firms can continue to work.
