Prime ministerial candidate Liz Truss (pictured) has said that she will “break down barriers and unlock the opportunity of homeownership” for millions of renters by allowing banks and lenders to accept rent in affordability checks.
According to media reports, she said too many young people were struggling to get onto the housing ladder and were getting onto the property ladder later in life.
She said this was a problem not just for the Conservative Party and the future of the country.
Truss also pledged to scrap national housebuilding targets of 300,000 homes per year that were introduced in 2019 by the Conservative government.
She said she would instead allow local councils to select how many homes their communities needed to be built.
Truss added that her administration would work with local communities to identify appropriate sites for redevelopment and cut back on planning restrictions.
The announcements come after former Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would launch a review into the mortgage market and mooted extending Right to Buy to housing association tenants and permitting people to housing benefit to pay a mortgage.
Johnson had also suggested intergenerational 50-year mortgages.
The foreign secretary had previously pledged a range of tax cuts, including reversing the increase in national insurance and a temporary moratorium on the green energy levy.
However, rival for the Prime Minister role, Rishi Sunak, said these tax cuts could put mortgage holders “into misery” as her plans could push interest rates up to seven per cent.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
