John Prescott has called Gentoo’s Genie home purchase plan a ‘brilliant idea’ that could ‘make a huge national impact’.
The former deputy prime minister gave his backing to the Gentoo scheme in his latest Sunday Mirror column titled, ‘Government should be lending a hand to the poorest buyers’.
In the article, Mr Prescott wrote: ‘Buying a home has just become nigh on impossible for a lot of people struggling on low incomes.
‘Homeownership without a deposit has been operating since 2011 where there are 60 such houses approved by the Financial Conduct Authority. It could make a huge national impact.
‘This brilliant idea is called Genie and is run by a not-for-profit housing association in Sunderland called Gentoo. It buys a property then enters into a long-term agreement with a tenant who pays one month rent in advance and agrees a 30-year payment plan that will end with them owning the house.’
Gentoo’s scheme requires a combined annual household income of just £18,000 and was developed by Peter Walls, chief executive of Gentoo.
Seventy-six households in the north east of England have used the ‘Genie’ method towards homeownership and the plan is looking to move nationwide.
Genie launched in 2011 and all applicants are subject to financial assessment and underwriting criteria.