...and Rishi even helps with the deposit too

HOMEBUYERS struggling to get a deposit together were also given a boost in the Budget. The Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed the Government will guarantee mortgages with a five per cent deposit on homes costing up to £600,000.

The scheme will begin next month and will be available to buyers until the end of next year.

Sunak said Lloyds, NatWest, Santander, Barclays and HSBC would offer the mortgages ‘from next month’, while others would ‘follow shortly after’. Rachel Springall, savings expert at financial product scrutineer Moneyfacts, says: ‘Many looking for a mortgage will be elated that the Government will be tackling the lack of five per cent deposit mortgages. This area has shrunk over the past year to just a handful of lenders.’

Andrew Asaam, mortgages director for Lloyds Banking Group, says the challenges facing many first-time buyers have grown over the past year. He says: ‘Raising a deposit is still the biggest struggle with the average first-time buyer paying £22,000 more than they did a year ago.’

Ms S.E. writes: ReAssure took over my mother’s with-profits bond from Legal & General at the beginning of 2020. She died soon afterwards, on January 30 last year, and a Grant of Probate was issued last September. A copy was sent to ReAssure, followed by letters, and each time we were told the claim would be dealt with in no more than ten working days, but no payment was ever received.

REASSURE has told me that your late mother’s bond was not actually transferred to it until last September. However, Legal & General had asked for a copy of the death certificate last February, and this was still awaited.

By October, ReAssure had the Grant of Probate but had not followed up on the need for the death certificate. It has now obtained this and has paid out £144,673 to your mother’s estate, plus interest of £1,441. A spokesman said: ‘We are sorry for any upset and have arranged for a payment of £500 to be made to say sorry for our part in the delay in settling the claim.’

In her column last week, Sarah Vine rightly criticised Lady Gaga (pictured) for offering a $500,000 reward ‘no questions asked’ for the return of her stolen dogs. Here in the UK, it is a criminal offence under the Theft Act 1868 to offer such a reward and Lady Gaga would have been prosecuted.

Laurie Oliver (retired police sergeant), Monmouth