Lord Bird
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Latest property news
Legislation to help renters get on property ladder dies a quiet death in parliament
A small announcement on the Commons website confirms that a Bill that would force lenders to include rent payments in their mortgage decision making will not become law.
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Latest property news
Ground-breaking legislation to help tenants onto property ladder enters Commons
New legislation designed to force lenders to take rent and council tax payments into account when assessing tenants for mortgages has begun its journey through the House of Commons, sponsored by former government minister and MP Justine Greening. Introduced into parliament in June last year by Big Issue founder Lord Bird, it is now likely to get Royal Assent and become law next year; its passage through the Lords was unopposed and supported enthusiastically by all parties. “Thanks to Justine Greening plus [other] MPs from every party for sponsoring the Creditworthiness Assessment Bill in the House of Commons – it’s an historic moment in our campaign,” Lord Bird said. The bill will force a subtle but important change within the lending industry. Currently, credit reference agencies and lenders can opt to factor a borrower’s rental payment record into their lending decision, but it’s not an approach adopted uniformly. To date take-up of the ideas has been relatively slow – only Experian adds tenant rent payment records to people’s credit files while its two competing reference agencies do not. Royal assent When the Creditworthiness Assessment Bill does become law, lenders will be compelled by the Financial Conduct Authority to include rent…
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Latest property news
FCA to force lenders to help tenants get on the property ladder
Millions of tenants maysoon have the Financial Conduct Authority on their side, which could soon be policing lenders to ensure they take a tenants rental payments into consideration when lending.
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Latest property news
Bird’s bill to make rental payments part of tenants’ credit histories
Big Issue founder Lord Bird’s Private Member’s Bill to compel lenders to take council tax and rental payments into account when making lending decisions has passed its second hurdle within the House of Lords. The Creditworthiness Assessment Bill will now proceed to the committee stage for further scrutiny, although the government has indicated it does not think adding additional regulatory burdens on lenders is a good idea. Lord Bird is seeking to compel financial regulator the FCA to force lenders to take both rental payments and council tax payment histories into account when calculating credit worthiness. Supported during the reading by several heavyweights, the Bill received considerable support following opening remarks by Lord Bird. During it he made an impassioned speech for the aims of the bill, which are to lower the costs and barriers to credit faced by many of the UK’s tenants and make tenants as ‘bankable’ as mortgage holders in lenders’ eyes. “The Creditworthiness Assessment Bill is an attempt to change the way the credit agencies look at this social morass, this social gap, this representation almost of a class line that is drawn between those who are in luck and those who are not in luck,”…
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Latest property news
Mandatory adding of rental payments to credit scores takes a step further towards reality
The mandatory adding of tenants’ rental payments to their credit histories took a step further today. A Private Members bill introduced by House of Lords cross-bencher Lord Bird (pictured, right), who founded the Big Issue magazine and homelessness charity, is to get its second reading on 24th November, it has been announced. His Creditworthiness Assessment Bill – if it becomes law – will require mortgage lenders to take into a tenant’s rental and council tax payment histories into account when calculating credit scores. Credit score rise Lord Bird is not alone in his endeavours. An e-petition signed by over 147,000 people was discussed last month in Westminster Hall and addressed by several key MPs including Economic Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Barclay and Labour spokesperson Jonathan Reynolds. He said 80% of tenants who had already signed up to one of the services that reports rental payments to the credit agencies saw their credit score rise. “Crucially, it has added a digital footprint, which is so important these days, for many people who simply did not have one before,” he said. Also, the Financial Conduct Authority has only just finished a consultation on assessing creditworthiness, and is due to issue a…
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