‘Rent to Home’, believed to be the first of its kind by a building society, is designed to support First Time Buyers in and around the Cambridge area who are able to afford to pay a monthly mortgage but due to the higher cost of living in the region are unable to save enough for a deposit.
This initiative, focused on supporting local people, will start with The Cambridge renting out two of their own refurbished flats to tenants who have applied to the scheme. The successful applicants will be able to rent one of the flats at market rate for a maximum of three years. After this time, if they are ready to buy their first home and choose a mortgage from The Cambridge, they will get 70% of the rent paid over the course of the tenancy returned to them, to use as a deposit on their first home.
As an example, a lucky applicant moves into The Cambridge’s rental home and pays market rate rent of £825 per month. They stay for three years, before they’re ready to purchase their own home. After the maximum of three years, £20,790 is returned to them to put towards the deposit for their new home purchase.
‘Rent to Home’ is the second initiative that The Cambridge has announced under ‘Making the Difference’. The First Step Mortgage was launched in September 2018 and requires local First Time Buyers to have just a 2% deposit to get onto the housing ladder.
Chief Executive Stephen Mitcham said: “Budgeting to save thousands of pounds for a deposit is hard, especially for those who earn an average wage in and around Cambridge. As a community-focussed organisation with our roots in Cambridge we recognise our responsibility to the people around us. Profit making isn’t the objective of this launch, we’re simply doing it to make it easier for people who need help the most to make that first step into home ownership.
“We’re initially piloting this scheme with two of our properties which are conveniently located for those working in or commuting from the city of Cambridge. We’ll look at the response we get to plan how we expand to include more properties over time.
“At The Cambridge we are especially excited about this scheme. It is truly unique to have the ability to support the local community in this way. Loyalty from our members over many years have made it possible for us to launch solutions like Rent to Home.”
Applications are officially open now for Rent to Home. Applications criteria and full scheme Terms and Conditions are available at: www.cambridgebs.co.uk/renttohome