The Building Societies Association has criticised the government’s failure to address a potential loophole in the Starter Homes Initiative which could see first-time buyers profit unfairly.
The Building Societies Association has criticised the government’s failure to address a potential loophole in the Starter Homes Initiative which could see first-time buyers profit unfairly.
The trade body suggested that the scheme, which allows first-time buyers to purchase homes at a 20% discount, needed further tweaking to avoid unintended consequences that, rather than putting the next generation first, would cost it dearly.
A statement from the BSA said: “We welcome the launch of the Starter Homes Land Fund however the current proposal that buyers of these starter homes will, after just five years, be able to sell these homes at full market value is a mistake that will cost the next generation.”
The government’s prospectus on starter homes, published today, confirmed details of the scheme and invited local authorities outside London to express an interest in using the £1.2bn Starter Home Land Fund which will be used to prepare brownfield land for starter homes.
The government said it expected local authorities to be capable of building between 300 and 600 starter homes across several sites, while it expected starter homes to account for at least 50% of homes built.
It will also consider making land available for authorities with only one or two available sites without launching into a formal partnership.
The government has committed to building 200,000 starter homes by 2020 exclusively for first-time buyers using £2.3bn of funding.
