Intermediate Rentals
The range of people interested in buying an affordable new home means that affordable homes providers are providing ever more ways for prospective homeowners on a budget to get on the property ladder. Intermediate Rent, Intermediate Market Rent (IMR) or Rent to Buy as it is sometimes known, allows you to live in a brand new home or refurbished property and pay a subsidised rent, typically 80% of the true market figure. It’s a great option for those who cannot save a deposit though a conventional affordable homeownership scheme, those who are having difficulty in getting a mortgage and those not yet ready to commit to buying their own home, but would like to within the next five years.
The scheme used to be restricted to key workers such as nurses, police officers and state school teachers, but is now open to anyone who cannot afford to buy their own home who fits the qualifying criteria.
There are a few qualifying criteria to satisfy before being admitted to the scheme:
- The household must have an income less than £60,000;
- The applicant is unable to afford a suitable property on the open market without assistance;
- The applicant cannot afford a home through a low-cost homeownership scheme;
- The applicant must be able to afford 80% of the ‘open market’ rent without assistance, e.g. recipients of Housing Benefit are ineligible;
- The applicant could buy a home via the New Build HomeBuy shared ownership scheme if market conditions were different.
Applications for the IMR scheme should be made through your local HomeBuy agent. There is a £200 reservation fee (deducted from the first rent payment) and the homes are usually let on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy basis for 6 or 12 months.
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