Policy: Improving the rented housing sector

IveSeenTheLight

Came accross this, this morning and thought it might be of interest.

https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/improving-the-rented-housing-sector--2/supporting-pages/private-rented-sector

Private rented sector
Private rented housing is a growing part of the housing market. It comprises almost 16.5% of all households, or nearly 3.6 million homes in England. The private rented sector offers a flexible form of tenure and meets a wide range of housing needs. It contributes to greater labour market mobility and is increasingly the tenure of choice for young people.
The government wants to encourage a wider range of investors to build houses for private rent. The 2011 Budget introduced changes to Stamp Duty Land Tax which will mean that large-scale investors pay a typical 1% instead of 5% on bulk purchases, as Stamp Duty will be assessed on the average value of individual properties rather than on the overall value of the portfolio.
The Budget also included a range of measures that were introduced in the 2012 Finance Act to support the development and growth of UK real estate investment trusts to make them more suitable for residential investment.

In response to Sir Adrian Montague’s review of the barriers to investment in private rented homes on 6 September 2012 we announced:

• a £200 million fund to provide equity finance to house builders and developers
• a debt guarantee scheme to support the building of more private rented housing
• a team of private rented sector investment experts to support demonstration projects through the equity finance fund and development and take-up of the new debt guarantee scheme

The private rented sector is already governed by a well-established legal framework and we will not introduce any further regulations. This will ensure the sector is free to grow in response to market conditions.
Launch of the build to rent fund

The build to rent fund prospectus was jointly launched on 20 December 2012 by the government and Homes and Communities Agency and invites applications for the build to rent fund by noon 4 February 2013.
The new £200 million build to rent fund will support the development of new purpose built privately rented homes. It will provide ‘off the shelf’ investment opportunities and take the risk out of building homes with the intention to let. The fund will be used to build innovative demonstration projects to show what a more professional, larger scale private rented market might look like.
The scheme is designed to help finance private rental construction until homes are built, let out and managed. Developers will repay or pass on the loan when new investors are found.
For more information on the launch of the prospectus, you can read the Department for Communities and Local Government press notice of 20 December 2012. Further information on the build to rent fund can be found on the Homes and Communities Agency website.
New loan guarantees for private rented housing

We want to issue debt guarantees to support the building of new homes for the private rented sector.
The money we raise through issuing the debt guarantees will be used to help buy newly built homes. Rental income will then be used to pay for the reduced borrowing costs available through the guarantee.
Companies and potential joint ventures can submit an expression of interest to [EMAIL="housingguarantees@communities.gsi.gov.uk"]housingguarantees@communities.gsi.gov.uk[/EMAIL]. We will launch a formal bidding round this autumn. Subject to legislation, the guarantee will enable borrowing from early 2013.
The guarantee is designed specifically to attract fixed-income investors, seeking a stable long-term return on investment, but who desire to be insulated from property, commercial and wider market risk. The government guarantee will provide this insulation, guaranteeing long-term debt (up to 30 years).
Those particpating in the scheme must commit to purchase an agreed number of newly built rented homes in exchange for benefiting from the guarantee.
To join the mailing list and receive updates, or send the expression of interest form below, please use email: [EMAIL="housingguarantees@communities.gsi.gov.uk"]housingguarantees@communities.gsi.gov.uk[/EMAIL].

IveSeenTheLight

Quite surprised this has not received some discussion in this forum.
Does that infer that all forum visitors accept and are happy with the detail?