Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of encouraging mortgage lenders to use rental payments as proof of affordability for younger people applying for a mortgage to purchase a first home.

The Government is committed to helping as many first-time buyers as possible get onto the housing ladder and agrees that a history of paying rent should be able to help with this.

In 2017, the Government launched the Rent Recognition Challenge: a £2 million competition challenging the UK’s world-leading tech firms to develop innovative applications to enable tenants to record and share their rental payment data with lenders and credit reference agencies. The three winners of the challenge (CreditLadder, Bud and RentalStep) are now all using technology to verify and record tenants’ rental payments. Since launching their rent recognition service, CreditLadder has recorded over £600 million in users’ rental payments.

The Government will continue to work with mortgage lenders and others to encourage rent track record is used in lending decisions.