'Finding a house deposit is a sticking point'

The dream of home ownership is being thwarted by "rent traps" that make saving for a deposit difficult, the BBC has been hearing.

Four people living in Cambridgeshire have shared their experiences of trying to get a foot on the housing ladder.

And each of them has messages for an incoming government as the general election nears.

Translator Lucy Boughton rented a house in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, for 15 years and worked in nearby Gerrards Cross.

Two years ago it became possible for her to work from home - so she moved back to live with her mother Marion in Peterborough.

Now she has saved for a deposit - and wants to buy a house.

"I do want a place of my own," she told the BBC after getting in touch through Your Voice, Your Vote.

"I still pay my mum some money towards living costs but I haven't got that big chunk of rent to drag me down."

She said the "barrier" was saving enough for a deposit while paying rent.

"It's taken me about two-and-a-half to three years of really, really making efforts to save," she said.

"It's been really tough."

She wants developers to keep building but think more about what they build.

"It feels like a lot of the developments around here are aimed at families of two, three, four people," she said.

"It seems like everything I would like is not available. You feel a bit forgotten."

Her message to a new government is to "speed up the planning process".

"It does frustrate me where there are so many new house developments that get blocked for whatever reason," she said.

Henrik Burton, 26, works at a food wholesale unit and lives in a spare room at his mother's house in Cambridge.

"At the moment it is the best place for me," he told the BBC.

"It really is just the most efficient way of living.

"A lot of people are paying significantly more in rent than they are able to save."

Mr Burton said many of his friends had been looking for someone to buy a house with.

"On a single income it just doesn't look realistic," he said.

"The obvious answer is to find another.

"If you don't have a partner ... maybe your friend is the next best bet."

He said he thought one "obvious thing" for a new government would be to "bring back the stock of council housing".

Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has unveiled plans to launch a "new and improved" Help to Buy scheme which aims to give people in England a hand with raising deposits to buy their first home.

The Conservatives have a target to build 300,000 new homes in England per year by the "mid-2020s".

Labour has pledged a similar target of building 1.5m homes over a five-year period in England, "delivering the biggest boost" to affordable housing in a generation.

The Liberal Democrats are pledging to build 380,000 new homes a year across the UK, including a specific annual target of 150,000 social homes, to "ensure that everyone can access housing that meets their needs".

The Greens also promised to campaign to build 150,000 social homes a year in England and end Right to Buy.

Reform aims to appeal to homeowners, including landlords, with proposed changes to taxation, including lifting the stamp duty threshold significantly in England and Northern Ireland.

Charity worker Michelle Stiles, 35, lives in rented accommodation with her husband and their two-year-old son Ollie in Peterborough.

They want to buy a three-bedroom home.

She says finding a deposit is the sticking point and said they would not be able to find the money in the near future.

"When you look at the deposit and they are such big numbers," she explained.

"Annoyingly, monthly wise, we could afford the mortgage repayments.

"We would be first time buyers.

"There are lots and lots of schemes out there to help first time buyers but a lot of them seemed to aimed at couple of singles.

"They are not aimed at established families."

She said even a 5% mortgage would not cover a three-bedroomed home with a small garden.

"We have never missed a month's rent," she said.

"When you have got a track record of never missing a rent payment, why is that not taken into account?

"Why isn't there some other way of doing a rent-to-buy scheme?"

She said she did not think the government was "aware of real-life costs".

Cameron Sant, 27, is lives in rented accommodation in Needingworth, Cambridgeshire, and also works in a food wholesale unit.

He believes the standout problem is the deposit needed to secure a home.

"It is hard to save that amount of money together in order to get out of the rent cycle," he said.

"And the rent cycle of course is part of what keeps you in that."

"I do think that for a lot of young people going abroad is seeming more and more like a better option just because of how difficult the economy is getting here."

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