Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Help to Buy scheme, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports that buyers have been unable to re-mortgage as a result of the administrators of the equity loan failing to complete the necessary paperwork.

The process of equity loan administration for re-mortgaging is undertaken by an external contractor, Target, who are expected to provide a timely and quality service. Homes England act as monitors of that process.

As with all processes, there will inevitably be some cases which have additional complexity and where the processes may take longer than anticipated. Should there be any specific issues, we suggest that customers approach Target in the first instance to discuss individual cases. If that does not resolve the matter, we would welcome further information to allow us to discuss further with Homes England and the external contractor.