Help to Buy Scheme - Scotland

Pkat3

Hello,

Looking for anyone with experience in the help to buy scheme in Scotland to give me some advice.

Want to buy a property ~ £235 k and have £150 K deposit. The yearly income of my wife and I is over £65K (before tax). My mortgage broker said that because we have such a massive deposit and our yearly income would therefore be pretty close to the mortgage value that it would be unlikely we would be accepted for the help to buy scheme.

However a couple of builders have told me this info is wrong and stated a couple of examples where people were approved when downsizing. I realise homebuilders will pretty much tell you anything to get a sale however if we did get accepted for the help to buy scheme we would end up paying substantially less interest over the mortgage period.

Any advice is most welcome

kingstreet

You can do it in England & Wales.

All you have to ensure is you borrow at least 25% of the purchase price.

Can't tell you about Scotland. Why don't you ask the administrator of the scheme, the equivalent of one of the English regional HCA HomeBuy Agents?

beecher2

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/BuyingSelling/help-to-buy/InformationForBuyers

How do Iknow if I’m eligible?

Youmust be able to fund up to 80% of the selected new build home through aconventional mortgage and a deposit to pay your lender.

Ifyou can reasonably afford more than 90% of the full purchase price, you willnot be eligible to receive assistance under the scheme.


Your application for assistance under the scheme will be assessed by an
agent to ensure that you are able to afford to afford a conventional mortgage
for the home you wish to purchase.


You must take out a first charge mortgage with a qualifying
lender. The
maximum purchase price is £400,000.

You could reasonably afford your mortgage without help, so it doesn't sound as if you're eligible

kingstreet

beecher2 wrote: »

You could reasonably afford your mortgage without help, so it doesn't sound as if you're eligible

Same as the rules in E&W but they aren't enforced, in my experience.

Pkat3

Yes I agree it does appear I am in ineligible and morally it would be a abuse of the system (in reality I don't need help to buy to purchase a home).

However you would be mad not to take advantage of obtaining a vastly reduced mortgage by getting involved in the HTB scheme.

kingstreet

It's only a loan they give you and you pay back that percentage of the future property value, you know.


20% of £235k = £47,000.

Leave that for a few years, your property value goes up to £300k and you end up paying back £60,000.

Pkat3

In Scotland it is pretty much unlikely that house prices will go up that much. My intention would be to pay of the mortgage ASAP and then pay off the 20% help to buy deposit ASAP.

Reckon I could overpay by ~ £10 K per year.

You have given me food for thought - I had forgotten that I could end up having to pay a sizable amount over and above the initial help to buy loan value.

kmoggy

I don't understand why you need a loan from government when you only need £85000 loan and you both are on 65k a year? I thought the whole point was to help fist time buyers get on property ladder.... not help people screw the system

kmoggy

sorry in response to my post £65k a year... £85000!!!! jeezzzzzz some people!!!!

Pkat3

If you read above you will see I agree, that the purpose of the scheme is to help people get on the ladder.

However tell me you wouldn't take advantage of the situation if you were in my position

Also as it happens I am a first time buyer (my wife isn't). Why should I be penalised for having the foresight to amass a big deposit? Instead should I have been spending left, right and centre?

kmoggy wrote: »

sorry in response to my post £65k a year... £85000!!!! jeezzzzzz some people!!!!

kmoggy

Amass a big deposit?? Are you kidding me? U have 150k already that's over 50% already!! How much more do you want? Why do you need to borrow money from the government you py need to pay it back anyways? Sounds to me your just plain old tight !!!!! The help to but scheme is limited to so many applicants and then there are people like you trying to screw it over when you sit there with 150k deposit already! U make my blood boil..people like you that ruin it for genuine people trying to make a start!