The Cambridge draws winners in rent-return ballot
October 4, 2022
The Cambridge Building Society today held a ballot and selected two lucky tenants who will receive £26,000 for a deposit for their first home in its unique Rent to Home scheme.
Company Secretary and Head of Compliance, Janet Reid, launched the ballot, using an old-fashioned wooden ballot box first used by the mutual society in 1850 when it was founded to help local people have a home.
The scheme is the only one of its kind in the UK and gives back 70% of the rent paid by the tenant to be used as a deposit for a first home.
Each of the 44 applicants was given a number and their corresponding ball was entered into the ballot box.
The balls were drawn by Chief Commercial Officer, Carole Charter. She said: “It is thrilling to be able to draw this ballot, knowing that it will eventually change people’s lives.
“We take our commitment to the community very seriously and have done for more than 170 years. We know that without our help many people would struggle to have the home they need because saving for a deposit is difficult, even without the additional challenges of the current economic climate.
“We’re really looking forward to welcoming these lucky winners to their new home for the next few years and eventually to taking that first step on the home-ownership ladder. It is the very purpose of The Cambridge, and the reason we founded in 1850.”
The first two numbers drawn were 36 and 29, and the corresponding applicants will be contacted and undergo credit checking and affordability verification before signing their contracts to rent the two modern self-contained flats owned by The Cambridge above its Great Shelford branch.
They will be able to rent the properties for a maximum of three years, after which they will receive around £26,000 as deposit for their own property, as well as a Cambridge mortgage.
This Rent to Home scheme was initially launched in 2019 and gives first time buyers a deposit to buy a property, which renting might otherwise prevent them saving for.
The first two tenants have already received their 70 per ccent back and moved into their own homes in July. A third moved into the Society’s flat above its Cottenham branch in 2020 and will complete his tenancy next year, when another tenant will be selected in the same process.