§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to extend the Housing Corporation do-it-yourself shared ownership programme to first time buyers and to exchange buyers suffering from negative equity.
§ Mr. BaldryThe Housing Corporation's do-it-yourself shared ownership programme is already available to first-time buyers. Sixty per cent. of the programme is reserved for tenants of housing associations or local authorities, which will release rented homes for those in housing need.
The Government have no plans to extend the scheme to existing owner-occupiers. To help people with negative equity who wish to move, the limit on building society's unsecured loans has been raised from £10,000 to £25,000 per person, and the security of one property can now be exchanged for security of another against the original loan without losing mortgage interest relief.