TSB to bypass agents and give tenants a discount to buy their home

Major lender TSB is offering an innovative new mortgage deal that will bypass estate agents and give tenants a 5% discount when they purchase the home they are renting directly from their landlord.

Tenants will, though, need to contribute a minimum 5% deposit on top of the landlord’s discount.

Eases tension

The new mortgage is an addition to the current Concessionary Mortgage deal, whereby landlords can sell their property to a tenant with a 10% discount or more on its market value.

TSB claim it is a means of overcoming the issues of ever-increasing rents for tenants and ever-increasing finance and regulation costs for landlords. Which, TSB notes, is creating a great deal of tension, with tenants ‘blaming the landlord’ for the situation and landlords either ‘blaming the government or mortgage lender’.

Roland McCormack, mortgage distribution director at TSB, said: “This can be a great option for the buyer as they get a discount, but also because they know the area and the property well already.

It makes the process easier and smoother”.

“For the seller, it makes the process easier and smoother. They don’t have to have a tenant move out of the property, do it all up, and then wait several months – all while not receiving rent.

“The seller and the buyer also avoid paying fees that would normally be involved with a house sale – such as estate agent fees.”

TSB Bank’s expansion of its Concessionary Mortgage is the latest example of its ambition to help first-time buyers who are struggling to raise a deposit to get onto the property ladder.