LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Local authorities were at one time the building societies’ biggest competitors. They were often prepared to lend on property that building societies and other lenders were not, such as dilapidated inner city properties, flats and maisonettes (which in the l960s and 1970s the building societies were reluctant to lend on). Many authorities were also prepared to lend the money required for tenants to buy their property under the ‘right to buy’ schemes.

A few local authorities may still be prepared to lend to people prepared to buy and renovate derelict houses, or houses in run-down areas. Since their finance comes from public funds and sometimes from borrowing on the money market, they are not so driven by changes in general interest rates as some other lenders may be.