Only in the epicenter of a stupidity vortex could this be dreamt up.
Taxing those who cannot afford to buy - but accept it.
Lending to others who cannot afford to buy - but deny it!
Maybe it could form the script of "Brewster’s Billions 2", where he tries to lose all the money in the UK...

Pat, Coromandel, NZ

This will end up with the taxpayer carrying all the council's cronies who, no doubt, will be the only ones to benefit. No, very bad idea.

judy, Liverpool, England

It's nothing that hasn't been done in the past.

Mark, Bradford,

Pemsioners will freeze and starve paying for this.

Mark, Oldham, Lancs

More money down the black hole. Councils will lend to the dregs of humanity and lose the lot. This whole subprime morgage situation has been brought about by lending to those that will never pay the money back. Sounds like these idiots can't wait to lose our money taken from us by threats and menace

kenherts, Hertford, Hertfordshire

Mortgages for those with a 10% deposit and 3.5x their salary are available - i.e. mortgages FOR THOSE WHO HAVE THE MEANS TO PAY IT BACK.

Not giving mortgages to others is NOT a disaster or crisis, it is how it should be, and will avoid future disastrous house price booms. This idea is ridiculous.

Jon Cooper, herts, uk,

Surely a joke? Let councils get back to their core business of collecting rubbish - when they can do that satisfactorily, then maybe they can look for somethine else to do.

Mike, Sydney,

NO WAY. This is heading for disaster as tax payer will susidise all those with bad credit records but councils will not want to enforce reposessions so more council tax rises. Money lending of any kind should be left to the privately owned banks and those who can't get on housing ladder should rent.

Contax, Brigg, UK

Councils cannot operated the services they have experience of and are paid to provide. How on earth do they think they can operate in the cut throat world of mortgages without loosing rate payers and tax payers a fortune. Council employees would be first in line for soft loans. bank on it. BAD IDEA

Alexander, victoria, Seychelles

Councils want to offer cheaper mortgages than the private sector? So those of us who work hard and earn money will be forced to subsidise those who do not? Why? Such people can rent.

John Scott, London,

What's wrong with councils, CML, etc? Why do they want prices we cannot afford? Another case of privatised profits, socialise debt
Caroline Flint, should be replaced. With hyperinflated prices and lack of council houses what has she achieved while in office. She might as well not exist.

Np, England, UK

who put the house price up? that was the biggest question of all

m, dublin ,

Labour policies, borrow and spend, with the tax payer to foot the bill. Why should people be allowed to borrow at less than market rates? Bad economics and typical of clueless Labour politicians. Build council housing and rent it.

bob travels, stevenage,

Another example of socialism messing with a free market, which will create another bubble. Will they ever learn? Obviously not.

Henry, Birmingham,

State control for everything thats the solution look at how it worked in Russia , china, korea.

andy, petersfield,

Perhaps the councils should learn to do what they are paid for by us, and not fleece us at every oooprtunity?

BP, Cambridge,

The public money would just go straight back into re-inflating the bubble in their own area and creating more debt for people entering the market. I agree with A Harris, build some houses, everyone will be better off.

I could see a desperate government being silly enough to fall for this though!

Phil, Welwyn, UK

why do public servants think they have the financial experience to risk public funds? if they offer mortgages below market price ie subsidised with taxpayer money then not only are they artificially supporting house prices but also taking business away fromthe private sector - lowering employment!

paul cookson, jersey,

If this is true it is one of the funniest things ive ever read.
They cant keep the streets clean and they simply refuse to empty the bins.
Now they want to be mortgage bankers.
The public sector is a jokewe should force them to be honest by getting rid of 50 percent of it.

James, Singapore, Singapore

What nonsense this all is. Who benefits from high house prices? Lawyers, estate agents & government. Basically it's simple: work hard, save for a decent deposit & only borrow what one can afford to repay. House prices will adjust accordingly and we can all get on with more important things.

John, Lincoln,

I bought a home in Bristol with a mortgage from the local council in the 1970's. So what's the big deal now? Every time someone comes up with a decent idea in the UK - it's like the wheel has been invented again.

Ben Avraham, Southport, UK

Is there a problem with renting?

Jim, London,

Sorry, but why do local councils want me to finance other peoples mortgages through my council tax? I get a poor enough service as it is, without the council targetting high risk lenders to lose money on and tax me even more.

Financing my own mortgage is enough, thank you very much!

Peter, London,

Councils can benefit the public they serve by allowing prices to drop to affordable levels, allowing reasonably priced homes for both first time buyers and to bolster social housing.

Buy-To-Let owning councillors can benefit their own pockets by inflating prices with idiotic schemes like this.

Graham, London, UK

I was a first time buyer about 2yrs ago and struggled saving for my deposit etc - no help from anyone then - the housing market could be sorted out by not allowing people to own holiday homes that sit enpty for most of the year and get some of the houses that sit derelict back in the housing stocks

Marc, kingsbridge, england

Since local government officials are not required to complete a register of interests, unlike members of Parliament, one wonders what safeguards will be included, to ensure that council officials will not be assisting their colleagues, assured that such a 'conflict of interests' will not be exposed

Jack Frost, Braintree, UK

It doesnt seem 2 mins ago that the do-gooders were moaning
every day about house prices being too high. Now Councils want to prop up the falling market. WHY ????. Were prices too high or not?. Guess what. Its MAKE YOUR MIND UP TIME !!

trevor, looe, england

Wonder what the building societies and banks will make of it? More meddling. More unintended consequences.

However, I'm sure these paragons of public virtue are only doing their best for us.

David S, Brighton, United Kingdom

Tell you what - if the cllrs are that concerned why don't they set up a building society, or even better - risk their own money NOT MINE!!!

inbreda, notts, uk

So, the 'expert' banks have shown themselves incapable of running a mortgage business yet our incompetent local councils (above inflation rises in council tax EVERY year - no concept of increasing efficiency) will do better? Councillors who back this must fully declare ALL property interests.

Clint, Brighton, UK

When did council employees become financial experts? If you can't get a mortgage from a bank then that normally means you can't afford it, and why would the taxpayer want to assume the risk of lending to them.
Rent and save until you can afford the right mortgage.

James, London, England

Mortgages will of course be granted impartially to any applicant who can meet the financial criteria. There will be no PC filtering of applications which will "regretably" have to be rationed by use of "other criteria". Lifelong benefit dependency will not be taken as being a suitably secure income

D.L. Stephens, York, England

So councillors want the power to prop up the over-inflated price of their own homes by using taxpayers' money to subsidise an unsustainable market? Talk about conflicts of interest ! The only thing the housing market needs saving from is government meddling - lower costs benefit all long term.

Huw Sayer, London, England

I shudder at the thought of a group as commercially naive as councils involving themselves in yet another initiative where they have no obvious skill sets to ensure success. Given they can barely administer the emptying of bins, looks like more money for the management consultants.

mark, Surbiton, England

The loony left are back again. The problem is unrealistic house prices. Cut prices mortgages will become available and developers will sell. Few people in power can see or dare to admit this is the problem so we are going to suffer years of stagnation rather than a burst the bubble and start over.

Bruce Mcaaw, Grantham,

This has got to be the worst idea. Get responsible, take away tax breaks on BTL so families buying a home to live in are on level pegging when bidding. Remove council tax rebates on second homes. Government is rubbish in the business world, not qualified in any way, just wade in and get in trouble.

C Wilde, london, England

Local councils offering mortgages, is this supposed to be value for money, council tax has risen by over 100% and now they want more and also for the residents to liable for defaulters. Councils need to concentrate on providing value for money not wasting money which they have a history of.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

Where are local councils going to find billions in funds to offer as mortgage liquidity? Yet more rises in council taxes? I agree with A Harris below, councils should be building more social housing, and renting it out, not selling it off.

Garley, London, UK

Prices need to collapse it is a s simple as that. They are already at ridiculous prices. Let them collaspe and first time buyers can buy without the massive debt burden They will have more money to spend to boost the economy.
Banks should like any other company FAIL not be bailed out by OUR TAX

John, Huddersfield,

Insanity. Who pays up when people default?!?! Other rate payers!

My council should concentrate on keeping the roadworks to a minimum and collecting our recycling for a change.

Carl, Camden, London

Keeping prices high is immoral.
Let them drop so people can aford to buy once again. Surely everyone whould like to buy at lower prices and then have more money in their own pockets to pay the bills and treat themselves.

Gareth Jones, Dusseldorf, Germany

The problem is that poorer people are subject to variable charges and what was affordable at the start of a mortgage might be totally impracticable a few years later. Poor people need predictability which basically means that they need fixed interest rates for the duration of their mortgages.

Thomas Brown, Newcastle, UK

The on-going crisis is not due to mortgages being insufficiently "cheap" but to mortgages being granted to borrowers who were not credit-worthy.

If Councils, who have no experience, get into the "cheap" mortgage business we will have foreclosures, favouritism and corruption, all for one low price.

jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA/USA

Why is the only solution proffered a return to easy money, lending people more than they can afford to borrow?

The problem is an overdue correction of land values. A house can be built for £50,000.

Councils should be building social housing, at cost price. End of discussion.

A Harris, Kettering, UK

So will council tax payers be forced to pay for any bad loans councils make or can we opt out and choose another council supplier ?

If a loan is not profitible for a private company, the public company should not risk yet more tax payers money to prop up inflated assets. Northern rock is enough.

roger, london,