£2m prize offered for rent check tool
A competition to develop a tool to record rental payments on credit histories has been launched by the Government,
with a £2 million prize going to the winning technology firm.
The competition was announced in the 2017 budget, as a part of the Government’s strategy to help more people onto the housing ladder.
What is it and how will it work?
Known as the Rent Recognition Challenge, the competition is looking for budding entrepreneurs to develop an application to enable the 11 million renters in the UK to record and share their rent payment information.
The six most promising proposals will receive grant funding to turn them into workable products, before being
narrowed down again to several teams who will develop the ideas into market-ready products.
How will it help turn renters into first-time buyers?
With the number of people renting increasing, and affordability issues still hampering first-time buyers, there have
been several requests for lenders to begin taking into account rental payments when assessing an applicant’s credit
score.
Monthly rent is a tenant’s biggest outgoing payment, which makes it logical to use when assessing a mortgage
application. But lenders are currently unable to use this information and take rental data into account, just because
it is not accessible.
After vigorous campaigning and a Westminster debate on the issue, development on solving the problem is finally
underway. The Treasury’s competition will begin this year, with initial applications being accepted.