§ Mrs. Rumboldasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if Her Majesty's Government will invite the building societies to look at shared purchase schemes for first-time house purchasers.
§ Sir George YoungFirst-time house purchasers buying on shared ownership terms are already able to borrow from the building societies.
In its recent proposals for new building society legislation, the Building Societies Association suggested that shared ownership schemes would be greatly encouraged if the societies were permitted to own the freehold of homes being purchased under a shared ownership scheme. The Government are considering carefully this and its other recommendations. As we said in our manifesto, we shall conduct early public consultations on proposals which would enable building societies to play a fuller part in supporting the provision of new housing and would bring up to date the laws which govern them.