Help to Buy ISA guide

colsten

You need to check the T&Cs of the ISA you signed up for. From what people have reported, it is very likely that if you send £1 to a Halifax HTB ISA, this will be deemed your initial deposit, and that you will be then only be allowed another £200 in the same month.

colsten

parsnp wrote: »

Hi,

I have an old ISA account opened in 2013 with 5k inside. I want to apply for a Halifax Help To Buy ISA but in their terms and conditions it says you cannot pay into another cash ISA in the same tax year.

As I have put money into my existing ISA would I have to wait until April to open the account and then empty and close my account, or can I do this at any time?

Additionally as I can only transfer part of my savings, what would be the best way to store the remaining money?

Thanks!

Usual answer: Close your ISA, put the funds somewhere that pays better interest than a normal cash ISA, start your HTB ISA.

Super_Whiskey

colsten wrote: »

You need to check the T&Cs of the ISA you signed up for. From what people have reported, it is very likely that if you send £1 to a Halifax HTB ISA, this will be deemed your initial deposit, and that you will be then only be allowed another £200 in the same month.

This is what the T&Cs say:

Should pay in at least £1. You can then pay in
up to the Government’s maximum amount
to start saving. This is the ‘initial deposit’,
and you must pay it (or tell us you want to
transfer in other ISA savings) within 21 days
of opening your account.
[Remember, if
you want to transfer money you’ve saved
in another ISA, this amount (plus any
interest) must not be more than the initial

I'd interpret that as being allowed to pay in £1200 within 21 days over more than 1 payment as long as it's in that time limit.

Cazh

I have read that you must live in the property and it cannot be rented. Can anyone advise if there are any restriction on how long you must live in the property before selling or renting.

MARTYM8`

Cazh wrote: »

I have read that you must live in the property and it cannot be rented. Can anyone advise if there are any restriction on how long you must live in the property before selling or renting.

There is none - once you have your help to buy bonus you can do what you like. Just repay your residential mortgage and/or change it to a buy to let.

Although if you are an FTB why wouldn't you actually want to live there - as presumably you need a home?

Cazh

Not buy for a long time yet! Maybe one day I will be buying with someone else, so just checking that if it doesn't work out I can sell or if I get a really great job somewhere exotic I can rent it out while I'm away.

Logsdonk

Please can someone confirm that if I have a Cash ISA from previous years (including this year) that come the new financial year I can open a Help to Buy ISA and keep my old Cash ISA, which I would move it to a more competitive provider?

It sounds like this is the case from the guide, but I am looking for confirmation of my understanding on this point.

Thanks,

Purplela

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know if you can use your Help to Buy ISA to obtain a mortgage for a building site?

I know it says it must be used for a property? So would a building site then qualify?

Thanks in advance for your help

jeleigh

Good morning,

My husband and I opened Help to Buy ISAs in December and by February we will have saved the minimum amount of £1600 to withdraw funds and receive the bonus of £400 each. We have seen a house that we like and would like to put an offer in this week but can we still get the bonus if we submit an offer on a house before February? It would mean putting the offer on the house this week, then subject to our offer being accepted, depositing £200 into each of our accounts on the 1st Feb then closing them or do we need to close the account before making an offer?

I would appreciate any guidance.
Thanks

Linzi84

The article obviously states that the help to buy isa can only be used on houses up to £250,000, what happens if when you start to look for houses you find one that is above the £250,000??