Is there a specific definition of 'first time buyer'?

smulx

For the purposes of things like being eligible for one of the government schemes to help people people afford houses, is the criteria literally as simple as 'someone that's never had a mortgage before'?

My basic situation is, an ex girlfriend and I moved in together (too soon) and things didn't work out. I stupidly ended up with too much debt in my name and was left with it when we broke up. I also got made redundant around the same time and was forced in to bankruptcy. The mortgage was joint, but the house ended up getting repossessed. This all happened around 7 years ago, but soon I'll be ready to make some better and more responsible decisions and look in to buying again. Would I be excluded from anything that's designed to benefit a 'first time buyer'?

It seems like a stupid question, as I know that I'm not actually a first time buyer, but just wanted to check. I'm hoping the question isn't as stupid as I think as I'm in an identical position to first time buyers and the help available would really benefit me.

Thanks for any help!

amnblog

No, you would not be excluded

kingstreet

It varies from lender to lender.

Some will treat you as a FTB if it's three years since you had a mortgage.

Others won't treat you as a FTB if you've ever owned a property at any time, but will accept as a FTB case if one applicant of the couple has never owned before.

Things like the HTB schemes and shared ownership are not FTB only, so you'll probably find worse case scenario is you pay a higher product fee for the mortgage with the same rate as the FTB.

smulx

That's great, thanks for the advice. Just what I wanted to hear.