Mr. Brendan Burgess:

I will make a few points. I will explain how mortgage-to-rent schemes work. I was involved in a radio debate with one of the commercial companies that was getting involved in mortgage-to-rent solutions and I could not understand why it would get involved. We are talking about somebody who is not paying a mortgage. We will buy the house from the mortgage holder who will pay us the rent instead. The point being missed, however, is that if somebody does not pay a mortgage and he or she qualifies for a mortgage-to-rent scheme, a fund, local authority or housing association will buy the house and the taxpayer will rent it. The taxpayer, therefore, is actually the person who is underwriting mortgage-to-rent solutions. It is not the former borrower. The local authority will pay the rent directly to the fund which has bought the house.