Help to Buy ISA guide

MARTYM8`

rmc86uk wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. One question is what do the government get out of helping out? My friends convinved that the government will take a percentage of the house when you buy it!

Stamp duty revenues - which is based on a percentage of the house price.

They will give with one hand - and then take it away with another. Albeit this won't apply to FTB's buying below the £120k threshold.

colsten

eskbanker wrote: »

You can make your first monthly payment whenever you like!

You need to check the T&Cs of the ISA. Some give you 21 days for your first deposit. Others may/will have different rules.

eskbanker

colsten wrote: »

You need to check the T&Cs of the ISA. Some give you 21 days for your first deposit. Others may/will have different rules.

I know that some impose limits on when the initial one-off £1K (max) can be made but was/am unaware of any that have restrictions on scheduling the first monthly £200 (max) payment.

romyvear

My husband and I are both first time buyers and have a Halifax help to buy ISA each.

We've paid in £1200 in the first month, and £200 per month following that. We are due to exchange contracts mid march by which point we'll have:
£1200 - Dec
£200 - Jane
£200 - Feb
£200 - Mar
=£1800 per ISA
=£450 Bonus Money from Government.
x 2 ISAs we should have £950 bonus.

I've kept an extra £950 aside as Im not convinced it'll all go through (just being cautious)

Has anyone cashed their's in yet? How does the process work from here?

Thank you

PF1984

I'm in the process of buying a new build and have been told I cannot claim the bonus for my deposit by my solicitor..........Is this correct? Also I cannot cash in now and still receive it as the solicitors can only hold on to funds for 3 months. Basically I'm being told I can only claim when the purchase completes. Seems a complete sham to me. Anyone else had similar experience?

masonic

PF1984 wrote: »

I'm in the process of buying a new build and have been told I cannot claim the bonus for my deposit by my solicitor..........Is this correct? Also I cannot cash in now and still receive it as the solicitors can only hold on to funds for 3 months. Basically I'm being told I can only claim when the purchase completes. Seems a complete sham to me. Anyone else had similar experience?

The process is dependent on your mortgage application. If you are paying some sort of deposit up front to the developer to secure the site or part-finished build, then that wouldn't be covered by this HTB scheme, for which the free money is added to the deposit used to secure a residential mortgage on the property. If your mortgage lender is not willing to lend against the property in its current state, then you would have to wait until the development completes.

Melanie_Jenkins

Can I transfer an old cash ISA (that I haven't paid money into this year) to a new cash ISA the same year as opening a help to buy ISA?

eskbanker

Yes, you can.

Whether it's sensible to do so is another story - as posted ad infinitum on here, keeping money in non-HTB cash ISAs is rarely a good idea as there are almost always many better places for your money, see post 695 above among many others.

mhuk01

A couple of questions: -

Can someone who is not a first time buyer take out one of these isas just for the good interest rate?

I have already bought a property. My future wife has not, and would be able to take out one of these isas. However after we are married we would like to both be listed on the house deeds (there is no mortgage to worry about). Will that affect her ability to get the bonus, as she is on the house deeds? She didn't however purchase the property, that was myself last year..

eskbanker

mhuk01 wrote: »

However after we are married we would like to both be listed on the house deeds (there is no mortgage to worry about). Will that affect her ability to get the bonus, as she is on the house deeds?

The last question at https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/help-to-buy-isa/faq answers this:

Can I buy a property without a mortgage?
No. The property you are buying must be mortgaged in order to be eligible for the government bonus.