LISA0001

Written evidence submitted by Anonymous

Name: xxxx xxxxxx (I have not included contact details as these are not for publication)

Circumstances: Father of 3 now adult children all of whom have LISAs.

My daughter, the eldest benefited from her LISA because, together with her husband, they bought a property in 2019, in Wiltshire and below the £450000. I very much doubt she now uses the LISA for pension savings; why would she? It is better for her to pay off the mortgage and she has other pensions with her employment.

My 2 sons, on the other hand, both live in London. Properties in London are now unbelievably expensive. My sons are working hard to save for houses, but it’s very difficult. My sons both have partners and want to start families, so would like to be able to combine their savings in order to be able to buy a house worth having. Such a house is now well over £450000 especially if they wish to have children. One option they have is to withdraw from their LISAs so there is no restriction (other than their own savings) on the value of the property they decide to buy, but of course there’s a 6.25% penalty for that.

I did wonder at the time when my daughter encouraged her brothers to open LISAs. I am much older, less naive and experience has taught me to have a very low level of trust in Government I’m afraid. I would not have opened a LISA.

I believe the following:

The LISA being a combined savings and pensions vehicle means it is far too complicated. Everyone now has a workplace pension or other anyway.
For existing LISA’s the £450000 limit must be removed altogether
For existing LISA’s, the 6.25% withdrawal penalty must be removed
I believe the LISA going forward should be scrapped. It is not good value for money; why give money through LISAs for savers with the one hand and take it away with the other through the recent reduction in the price level at which stamp duty on house purchases is payable.
Government should stop interfering in the house market. We have a housing emergency. Instead do the following: A. Make 2nd home ownership very expensive. B. Make ownership of property in the UK by non-UK residents very expensive. C. Use the money raised to build quality sustainable core homes to standard designs and with enduring planning permission so the purchasers can further develop and/or extend their properties when they are able, but with strict rules so the extensions are built to high quality building controlled standards.
Government policy badly thought out reduces trust in Government. Pretty low as it is.

2nd homes and homes owned by non-residents standing empty all the time are inexcusable as these are busy chucking out CO2 throughout winter to ensure pipes don’t freeze; this at a time when we have a climate emergency. This is utterly insane, has been so obvious for so long, yet little or nothing ever gets done hence my lack of faith in government. Governments (no matter the party) seem incapable of getting the right things done is a reasonable timeframe. I am aware some measures are in place to make 2nd and non-resident home ownership more expensive, but not nearly enough. These houses are a ready, already built source of much needed homes.

I am a person with a passion for correct solutions to problems ( an engineer not a lawyer nor accountant). I have had a set of wide ranging, coherent policies written down for 4 years, addressing many of the problems the country faces, but no-one wants to know. I would be happy to let the current government have these were I to believe they would give the ideas the consideration they deserve; this is a rare opportunity to air my views and I give credit to Labour where credit is due, but I think it unlikely I will get the opportunity to be heard on a wide range of policies. I am shocked the Labour party have been in government for 6 months yet still haven’t decided what needs to be done. There was plenty of time for that before they won the election.

January 2025