£3 million for Highland homes

4th December 2014

Rural communities will receive help to own their own homes.

People in rural communities will receive help to get onto the property ladder through a £3 million boost to the Rural Rent to Buy Scheme.

The extension of the scheme, which is delivered by the Highlands Small Communities Housing Trust (HSCHT), will give people, who previously would not be able to afford their own home, the chance to rent a new home for up to five years.

At the end of that time they will receive a cash return which will provide them with a deposit so they can buy and own the property which is sold substantially below market value.

To date the scheme has been successful in using small or local companies to build the properties. The funding boost will allow small builders to continue to benefit from these opportunities.

Housing Minister Margaret Burgess made the announcement at the Scotland Policy Conferences Keynote Seminar: Next Steps for Housing Policy in Scotland, event today. She said:

"This Government is working tirelessly to improve the lives of people and communities across Scotland by making sure homes are affordable and attractive options for all.

"That's why I am delighted to announce we are extending our Rural Rent to Buy Scheme to help even more people in communities across the Highlands own their own homes.

“These new homes will not only give families ownership of affordable homes where they can be safe and warm, but they will boost the economy by creating a demand for small, local contractors to build homes."

Ronnie MacRae, HSCHT's Chief Executive Officer said: “The Scottish Government’s approach to innovative and increased rural development is hugely helpful, and this scheme which has various benefits is proving extremely popular with individuals, contractors and communities alike.

“The scheme is based entirely on loan finance which has the potential to be recyclable and provide social and economic benefit to rural communities for the longer term."

The £3 million boost to the scheme comes on top of the allocation of an additional £30 million to Help to Buy (Scotland) last week.

The house price is set at least 20 per cent below market value at the start of the agreement. This means that if house prices increase over the five years, applicants do not have to pay any more.

The scheme is protected as affordable by attaching a Rural Housing Burden (RHB) which is a right of pre-emption (first right of buy-back for housing provider if ever offered for sale) and an equity share (which reflects the discount).

For more information go to http://www.hscht.co.uk/

The extra funding for Help to Buy (Scotland) aims to support purchases on smaller developments and encourage more participation from small and medium enterprises.

This will ensure the benefits of the scheme will be spread more evenly across urban, small town and rural Scotland, giving even more people in Scotland the opportunity to buy homes.

Mrs Burgess said:“This successful Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme is giving people who might not otherwise have been able to afford their own homes the opportunity to get on the housing ladder.

“Despite financial challenges over the last few years from Westminster, housing continues to be a priority for us. We are three quarters of the way towards achieving our target of 30,000 additional affordable homes by the end of this Parliament.

“This boost to the Rural Rent to Buy Scheme will make sure rural communities don’t miss out and they also benefit from new affordable houses which otherwise would not have been built.”