The Council of Mortgage Lenders has appointed TSB’s Carol Anderson as its chair for Scotland.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has appointed TSB’s Carol Anderson as its chairman for Scotland.
Anderson, who is TSB’s branch & business banking distribution director in Scotland, will replace Clydesdale Bank’s Linda Docherty who leaves after two years.
The appointment was announced at CML Scotland’s annual lunch in Edinburgh which had 200 members of the Scottish mortgage market in attendance.
Anderson said: “With a changing of the guard here at CML Scotland, so to speak, I think it is a good time to take stock of our industry. If I was to give my feelings on the current state of the Scottish market in one word, it’d be optimistic.
“Mortgage lending continues to rise. Last year, more loans were taken out to purchase a home in Scotland than any year since 2007. First-time buyers were at their highest level since 2007, homemovers also.
“And remortgage lending was up to 2011 levels. All the cogs working at a steady rate with none over-heating the machine.”
Anderson said Scotland was in a recovery period, with exports rising by 40% since the recession. She praised Scottish lenders for implementing the Mortgage Market Review and making Help to Buy a success but warned this is no time for complacency.
She added: “We’d have wished the government had waited for the dust to settle before heaping new transaction taxes on top of the landlord tax changes.
"The CML believes proposals for a 3% Land and Buildings Transaction Tax surcharge on purchase of second properties demands a rethink. Or at least tinkered with so it is not an upfront tax for those with unplanned temporary ownership of two properties.
“This would be a huge inconvenience to many and we’d urge the government to allow buyers to be allowed to defer the payment of higher LBTT for up to 18 months, to cater for temporary situations.
“With the changes to the Private Tenancies Bill, further adding a LBTT supplement on top could have a cumulative impact on landlords and the ability of Scottish government to deliver a fully cross-tenure approach.”
