Susan Elan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Susan Elan Jones on 2016-02-19.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to support self-employed people who want to buy their own home.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government is committed to making the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible. At the Spending Review the Government announced a series of measures which will help people become homeowners. These include plans to deliver 200,000 Starter Homes and 135,000 Shared Ownership homes; increasing the value of Help to Buy equity loans in London to 40% from 25% and extending the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme for a further year to 2021.

These schemes are also supported by the Help to Buy: ISA, through which the Government tops up mortgage deposit savings for first time buyers by up to £3,000.

Decisions around the availability of individual mortgage loans are commercial decisions for lenders, including what evidence is required to validate income. The Government does not seek to intervene in these decisions.