The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is seeking to engage with the market via the publication of this prior information regarding the administration on behalf of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) of loans entered into by borrowers participating in Government home ownership schemes including: First Time Buyers Initiative, FirstBuy, HomeBuy Direct and Help to Buy equity loans.

All loans are equity mortgages and always ranked second behind main lender mortgages and secured on the borrowers’ home.

The HCA has an existing contract for the provision of this service which runs until 11 June 2019.

The term of this contract is conditional and includes a flexible break clause which HCA can exercise from the two year anniversary.

In order to fully consider the HCA’s position, the changing nature of the portfolio and its administrative and regulatory requirements, the HCA is conducting a soft market test to consult with potential suppliers.

This consultation is being conducted to inform the HCA's decision as to the future delivery of this service.

Issue of this Prior Information Notice is not confirmation that the HCA has made any decisions in relation to future service delivery.

Suppliers interested in the consultation should contact the HCA via the email included in Section I.

In response they will be issued with a market-testing questionnaire for completion and return to HCA.

Administration of equity loan mortgages includes: issuing compliant annual statements to borrowers, collecting interest from borrowers and ensuring that correct sums are recovered from borrowers on loan redemption and dealing with arrears.

The administrator will hold and manage a database of the loans and provide regular monitoring reports to the HCA.

A proportion of the portfolio comprises approximately 20,000 current Consumer Credit regulated loans from the previous HomeBuy Direct and FirstBuy programmes where the lender party is a private house builder.

Services also includes responding to enquiries from borrowers and applying agreed policies to deal with borrower requests e.g. for re-mortgaging, loan repayment or changes of parties to loans.

The loan portfolio comprises more than 70,000 loans at end March 2015.

The portfolio continues to grow (it is estimated c27,000 new loans will be added in 2015-16 - April to March).

The 20,000 regulated loans referred to above (and included in the 70,000 total) will become Regulated Mortgage Contracts from 21 March 2016 when the Mortgage Credit Directive Order comes into force.

It is not anticipated that any new Regulated Mortgage Contracts will be added to the portfolio.

Administration of the loans in the portfolio (regulated and non-regulated) must be compliant with all applicable legislation including all FCA and CCA requirements.