House Buying Scheme Launched with No Mortgage Necessary

LONDON, ENGLAND, October 03, 2012 (Press-News.org) The house buying scheme enables first-time buyers to buy a property with no mortgage or deposit. Originally the scheme, called the Genie Home Purchase Plan, was implemented as a pilot scheme in the North East of England, and it has become so successful it is now being rolled out across the UK using a fund of GBP150 million with the help of additional investors in the scheme. The new scheme is a product of the Gentoo Housing Group which is a housing association based in Sunderland.

The Genie plan offers a long-term payment plan that is structured over 25 years to allow home buyers to own their own home either partially or outright without needing a deposit or mortgage. No mortgage or deposit is required to buy a property and a share of the property is acquired over time up to 25 years. The home is registered in the house buyers' name when they own the entire property. Even though the house buyers do not fully own the property, they have the same responsibilities as a home owner during the agreement term to maintain the property.

A monthly residency fee is payable monthly and the residency fee will increase annually. The amount of residency fee that is payable is agreed every five years. Homes are available are from a pool of new build homes owned by Gentoo.

There is a non-refundable fee plus VAT charged as an administration fee and legal fees are payable. Stamp Duty Tax may also be payable.

The scheme is being planned to expand and roll out so that there is a GBP150 million housing stock for the Genie buying scheme by 2014. With the difficulty for first-time buyers to get a mortgage because of restriction on lending by banks, the scheme is set to help more house buyers get onto the property ladder and own their first home. It also helps first-time buyers who cannot save up for a large deposit because of higher rental rates caused by the lack of buyers buying in the property market.

Notes to Editors:
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