David Castle: Conservatives should introduce the "rent a mortgage" scheme

David Castle, Director of the CTAB Mortgage Desk, offers his thoughts on current housing policy.

When Gordon Brown thought about calling a General Election I don't think he took the Conservative Party's stance on Housing seriously enough.

Stamp Duty is a stumbling block for so many first time buyers. Why? Because it is applied from day one at 1% for a property valued at £150,001, when this exceeds £250,000 then the 3% rule applies - even if the applicant is applying to buy 25% of the property!

The Labour Party are making the right noises on Shared Ownership but speaking as an FSA regulated Mortgage Broker working with various appointed Homebuy Agents we talk regularly with all the Lenders within the scheme and with others who have voiced their reservations about the scheme. They are not prepared to advance monies over or above the initial purchase price.

So from that perspective it makes the whole subject a misnomer.