The Centre for Policy Studies has come up with a novel proposal which they say could see one million more people become homeowners in one year. ‘Help to Own’ aims to make it easier for ‘Generation Rent’ to buy while also incentivising landlords to sell to their tenants by introducing a scheme for a single year that would pool capital gains tax receipts on the sale of rented homes in order to then grant them back as rebates to landlords and tenants.

33% of each rebate would go to the landlord while 66% would go towards the deposit of the purchasing tenant. The CPS have crunched the numbers and say the net effect would be to increase revenue to the Treasury, while the tenant would only need to stump up the cash for 3.33% of the property upfront, with the capital gains rebate making up the rest of the 10% deposit they need to get on the property ladder. Like ‘Right to Buy’, ‘Help to Own’ could be a game changer in granting people a tangible stake in the economy, all at no extra cost to taxpayers…