When James Vivyan and his partner, Chloé, bought their first flat, they were only able to do so thanks to Help to Buy, the government-backed scheme that since 2013 has offered taxpayer-funded loans to help priced-out, aspirational renters climb on to the first rung of the property ladder.
Their one-bedroom flat in Tottenham, north London, is one of 328,506 homes bought using a Help to Buy equity loan worth 20 per cent of the property’s value (up to 40 per cent in London) from Homes England. The total value of the loans now stands at £20.1 billion and 82 per cent of purchasers are first-time buyers.
“It was sold to us as a good opportunity,” says James, 33, an IT worker, who borrowed 20 per
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/homes-england-wont-let-us-pay-back-our-help-to-buy-loan-fm0w5sjr0
