This is the view of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) which has called on the chancellor Rishi Sunak as he prepared to deliver his budget to take action in a number of key areas to make sure the housing market ‘continues to fire on all cylinders’ as the economy begins to recover from the coronavirus crisis.

It is expected he will announce three-month extension to the Stamp Duty holiday in his statement on Wednesday 3 March.

But IMLA has called for a flexible wind-down to the scheme to avoid a “cliff-edge” simply being postponed to the end of June.

The organisation is also calling on the chancellor to include further support for victims of unsafe cladding, help to boost engagement with green housing initiatives, and improvements to the waiting periods for borrowers wishing to apply for loans under the Support for Mortgage Interest Scheme.

Kate Davies, executive director of IMLA said: “Protecting the UK’s housing market should be high up on the chancellor’s priority list for this Budget.

“The current Stamp Duty holiday deadline of 31 March has created unprecedented levels of activity and put a huge strain on lenders and conveyancers as they race to complete transactions in time.

We have asked for some flexibility to avoid penalising those who miss the deadline, very possibly through no fault of their own.”

Like many others in the property and mortgage industry, Davies thinks if an extension, without the flexibility IMLA is arguing for, is put in place then it would simply be shifting the ‘cliff edge’ to June.

Cladding

However, it’s not just the stamp duty on which the government should focus – IMLA is also concerned there were other key challenges which demand the Chancellor’s attention.

Davies said the misery being caused by the cladding crisis had gone on long enough already. She said whilst the government’s latest announcement – of a further £3.5 billion to fund remedial work, taking the total available to £5 billion – was welcome, IMLA believes it still doesn’t go far enough. It’s been estimated that the total cost of removing dangerous cladding and repairing buildings is likely to be nearer £15 billion – three times what the government is currently committing.

Climate change

IMLA also called for further action on climate change initiatives and a review of the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme.

“Climate change is a huge issue and lenders support the government’s ambition to build back better and focus on green initiatives, Davies added.

“The Green Homes Grant was well-intentioned, as was a recent BEIS consultation on improving home energy efficiency, but we think this challenge requires a much wider and more ambitious cross-Government strategy, rather than a piecemeal departmental approach.”

Support for Mortgage Interest 

IMLA would also like to see a re-think on the rules surrounding the availability of the Support for Mortgage Interest loans.

It said this used to be a benefit, but was now a loan, eligibility for which was tied up with Universal Credit benefit payments.

Davies said: “It seemed likely that a number of borrowers – who may not need to apply for Universal Credit – may temporarily lose all or part of their income as a result of the pandemic and could benefit from being able to access the SMI loan – which they will in due course repay, with interest.

“This could provide a lifeline to those in financial difficulty and keep more families in their homes.”