Help to Buy ISA guide

zainbows

I had a help to buy isa and my partner a lifetime isa we completed on our first house purchase last month. The solicitors have said we where only entitled to the one which gave the bigger bonus. Is this correct as from reading online we should of been entitled to both?

grumiofoundation

zainbows said:

I had a help to buy isa and my partner a lifetime isa we completed on our first house purchase last month. The solicitors have said we where only entitled to the one which gave the bigger bonus. Is this correct as from reading online we should of been entitled to both?

Assuming the property was eligible to be used for both schemes (e.g. 250k or less outside london) then yes it would have been possible to use your HTB ISA and your partners LISA towards the purchase.

An individual can only use one or the other.

zainbows

grumiofoundation said:

zainbows said:

I had a help to buy isa and my partner a lifetime isa we completed on our first house purchase last month. The solicitors have said we where only entitled to the one which gave the bigger bonus. Is this correct as from reading online we should of been entitled to both?

Assuming the property was eligible to be used for both schemes (e.g. 250k or less outside london) then yes it would have been possible to use your HTB ISA and your partners LISA towards the purchase.

An individual can only use one or the other.

Yes the property was outside London with a value of 227,000 in which we purchased a 60% share. Would this of affected it all? I think they didn’t apply for my help to buy bonus and are trying to get out of it even though all relevant paperwork was sent months before completion.

eskbanker

zainbows said:

Yes the property was outside London with a value of 227,000 in which we purchased a 60% share. Would this of affected it all?

Was your 60% share £227K or were you buying at 60% of £227K?  The former wouldn't qualify but the latter would.

zainbows said:
I think they didn’t apply for my help to buy bonus and are trying to get out of it even though all relevant paperwork was sent months before completion.

They owe you an explanation of exactly why they contend that the HTB ISA couldn't be used, but if it was their error then they should accept financial liability for that and reimburse you accordingly....

Alexland

Was the 60% share worth £227k or was that the value of the whole property? For claiming the HTB ISA bonus it's the whole property value that is considered. If the whole property was within the limit then you might want to raise a complaint.

Edit: esk got there first.

zainbows

eskbanker said:

zainbows said:

Yes the property was outside London with a value of 227,000 in which we purchased a 60% share. Would this of affected it all?

Was your 60% share £227K or were you buying at 60% of £227K?  The former wouldn't qualify but the latter would.

zainbows said:
I think they didn’t apply for my help to buy bonus and are trying to get out of it even though all relevant paperwork was sent months before completion.

They owe you an explanation of exactly why they contend that the HTB ISA couldn't be used, but if it was their error then they should accept financial liability for that and reimburse you accordingly....

Thankyou for your help it was 60% of 227k so it was 134k including the deposit we put down. 

So the excuse they’re using, you can only use one or other is basically they’re trying to fob me of because they’ve messed up? 

I think I’m probably going to have go through legal ombudsman as there taking no responsibility for it.

eskbanker

zainbows said:

So the excuse they’re using, you can only use one or other is basically they’re trying to fob me of because they’ve messed up? 

I think I’m probably going to have go through legal ombudsman as there taking no responsibility for it.

Press them for exactly where the rules of either scheme say that a couple can't use one of each, and if no satisfactory response then invoke their formal complaints procedure, which will probably be a prerequisite before referring to an ombudsman.

grumiofoundation

zainbows said:

eskbanker said:

zainbows said:

Yes the property was outside London with a value of 227,000 in which we purchased a 60% share. Would this of affected it all?

Was your 60% share £227K or were you buying at 60% of £227K?  The former wouldn't qualify but the latter would.

zainbows said:
I think they didn’t apply for my help to buy bonus and are trying to get out of it even though all relevant paperwork was sent months before completion.

They owe you an explanation of exactly why they contend that the HTB ISA couldn't be used, but if it was their error then they should accept financial liability for that and reimburse you accordingly....

Thankyou for your help it was 60% of 227k so it was 134k including the deposit we put down. 

So the excuse they’re using, you can only use one or other is basically they’re trying to fob me of because they’ve messed up? 

I think I’m probably going to have go through legal ombudsman as there taking no responsibility for it.

Sounds like they may have misunderstood the conditions of the 2 schemes. 

An individual can only use one of the other, a couple can use one of each

As above would ask for exact clarification of why they claim it can't be used, and if they are incorrect/you aren't satisfied then you should complain to them first thigh their complaints procedure and ask for the HTB bonus you lost. As eskbanker says this process will probably be a prerequisite. 

olilovespies

masonic said:

jennaemerson wrote: »

a transfer of equity does not involve sale/re-purchase. a transfer of equity is simply transferring my property (and existing mortgage) from my sole name into the joint names of myself and my husband. He has never owned a property before so if I add him to my property and mortgage will he then be able to claim the help to buy ISA?

No, it needs to be a formal at-arms-length sale with each of you being represented by a conveyancer to qualify (the cost of which would negate any benefit from the HTB ISA). Once he becomes a co-owner of the property, he must close or transfer his HTB ISA and will no longer qualify as a FTB.

I just thought I'd reply to this following mine and my partner's experience recently. I hope you don't mind my dragging up this old comment, but it was literally the only discussion I could find online about this situation!

I have owned my home for several years, and my partner (a first time buyer) was looking to buy in to the property, by means of a transfer of equity. We read all of the official guidance, and emailed the HTB administrators (who were very non-committal!) with no clear advice on the situation regarding if my partner could use her HTB ISA bonus to aid in her buying in to the property.

Once we had a re-mortgage arranged, I used one of the online conveyancer comparison sites and emailed the three firms listed about our specific situation. Our remortgage came with simple legals but this firm never dealt with HTB at all. One said no, my partner wasn't eligible, one said the situation was complex and they wouldn't look in to it until we instructed them, and one said yes, my partner would be eligible for the bonus (who we instructed in the hope that this would be the case).

Following a little wobble where the firm we instructed panicked and emailed the scheme administrators for advice (which they received and interpreted meant my partner was eligible for the bonus), we have recently completed the transfer of equity/remortgage with the HTB ISA bonus being received from the solicitors.

Hope this helps someone in the future!

masonic

olilovespies said:

masonic said:

jennaemerson wrote: »

a transfer of equity does not involve sale/re-purchase. a transfer of equity is simply transferring my property (and existing mortgage) from my sole name into the joint names of myself and my husband. He has never owned a property before so if I add him to my property and mortgage will he then be able to claim the help to buy ISA?

No, it needs to be a formal at-arms-length sale with each of you being represented by a conveyancer to qualify (the cost of which would negate any benefit from the HTB ISA). Once he becomes a co-owner of the property, he must close or transfer his HTB ISA and will no longer qualify as a FTB.

I just thought I'd reply to this following mine and my partner's experience recently. I hope you don't mind my dragging up this old comment, but it was literally the only discussion I could find online about this situation!

I have owned my home for several years, and my partner (a first time buyer) was looking to buy in to the property, by means of a transfer of equity. We read all of the official guidance, and emailed the HTB administrators (who were very non-committal!) with no clear advice on the situation regarding if my partner could use her HTB ISA bonus to aid in her buying in to the property.

Once we had a re-mortgage arranged, I used one of the online conveyancer comparison sites and emailed the three firms listed about our specific situation. Our remortgage came with simple legals but this firm never dealt with HTB at all. One said no, my partner wasn't eligible, one said the situation was complex and they wouldn't look in to it until we instructed them, and one said yes, my partner would be eligible for the bonus (who we instructed in the hope that this would be the case).

Following a little wobble where the firm we instructed panicked and emailed the scheme administrators for advice (which they received and interpreted meant my partner was eligible for the bonus), we have recently completed the transfer of equity/remortgage with the HTB ISA bonus being received from the solicitors.

Hope this helps someone in the future!

Thanks for the feedback - I believe the first example reported here of a conveyancer interpreting the scheme rules in this way and successfully completing the transaction. Your experience suggests there is a need to shop around to find one willing to accept this interpretation and do any necessary due diligence. Ultimately, the conveyancer is the arbiter or whether or not the scheme rules have been followed, and the one who makes a declaration to this effect, so it is up to them. At least I can now suggest to those asking the question in the future that it can be done, with the right conveyancer.