At rebuildingsociety.com, we’ve spent over a decade connecting UK businesses with everyday investors who want a better return on their money. We’re a Leeds-based, FCA-regulated peer-to-business lending platform, founded in 2012 with a simple belief: finance should work for people and communities, not just distant shareholders.
Now we’re turning our attention to a challenge that affects millions of people across the UK: the growing difficulty of buying and selling homes through the traditional mortgage system.
The Problem We’re Trying to Solve
The UK property market is failing too many people.
For buyers, the barriers are well documented. The average first-time buyer home costs around £240,000, but a typical buyer can only borrow around £148,000—leaving an affordability gap of nearly £70,000, and far more in London. Deposit requirements have risen sharply, with many renters taking years to save enough while house prices continue to outpace wages.
But affordability is only part of the story. A significant number of creditworthy people are shut out of the mortgage market because of how they earn their income, not how much they earn. Self-employed workers, freelancers, and gig economy workers routinely face rejection: research shows that 76% of UK gig workers struggle to obtain mortgage approval, and over a third of self-employed mortgage applicants are refused because their income is considered too volatile or their profession too irregular.
For sellers, the pain is different but equally real. Sales fall through when buyers can’t secure finance. Even when they do, sellers receive a single lump sum—perhaps useful, but often not what they need if they’re looking to convert property equity into a reliable income stream in retirement.
For the wider market, interest payments flow to banks, not to individuals or communities. Wealth is extracted rather than circulated.
A Different Approach: P2P Home Finance
We believe there’s a better way. P2P Home Finance is a proposition that sits between renting and buying. Instead of borrowing from a bank, a buyer and seller agree on terms directly: the buyer pays a deposit (typically 10–30%), followed by monthly payments of capital and interest over a period of up to 15 years. Legal title remains with the seller until the property is fully paid for, but the buyer builds equity from day one and enjoys the security of a legally registered equitable interest, held by an independent Security Trustee.
For sellers, this transforms a property into a monthly income stream—often more than rental income, with none of the landlord responsibilities. For buyers who are creditworthy but excluded by rigid bank criteria—particularly the self-employed and those with complex incomes—it opens a pathway to homeownership that would otherwise be closed.
Interest payments go from buyer to seller, not to a bank. Wealth stays within the transaction, not with a distant financial institution.
We Need Your Help to Get This Right
P2P Home Finance is not a finished product. It’s a proposition we’re actively developing, and we want to build it with the input of the people it’s designed to serve: buyers, sellers, landlords, mortgage advisers, and estate agents.
That’s why we’ve created a market intelligence survey to gather views on the concept, the risks, the benefits, and the practical details that matter to you.
The survey takes around 5–10 minutes and asks about your circumstances, your priorities, and your comfort level with key aspects of the agreement—such as how payments work, what happens if a payment is missed, and what interest rate would make the proposition attractive.
Your responses will directly inform how we design and refine the product. Whether you’re a first-time buyer struggling to save a deposit, a self-employed professional who has been declined a mortgage, a landlord considering your exit strategy, or a mortgage adviser looking for alternatives for underserved clients, your perspective is invaluable.
Take the survey here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/pyc842biXE
What Happens Next
This is market research, not a product offer. Completing the survey does not commit you to anything, and you can choose whether to share your contact details for follow-up. All responses will be treated confidentially and used only to inform product development.
If the response confirms what we suspect—that there is real demand for a fairer, more flexible approach to property transactions—we will move to the next stage of development, with compliance and regulatory oversight at every step.
We’re regulated by the FCA (license number 660958/1), and we take our responsibility to consumers seriously. This is not about disrupting the market for the sake of it. It’s about finding a better answer for people who are currently locked out or poorly served by the status quo.
Join the Conversation
If you believe homeownership should be more accessible, or if you’ve experienced the frustration of a property chain collapsing due to finance issues, we want to hear from you. Share your thoughts, complete the survey, and help us build something that works for real people, not just balance sheets.
Survey link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/pyc842biXE
Thank you for helping us rebuild the path to homeownership.
rebuildingsociety.com is a peer-to-business lending platform regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This blog post describes a product concept currently under development. It is not financial advice, and no product is being offered or promoted. All participation in market research is voluntary and subject to our privacy policy.
