Lifetime ISAs guide

ali576

eskbanker said:

ali576 said:

apologies if this has already been answered but what would happen to your LISA if your husband/wife purchased a property in their own name. both being FTB.

can the LISA still be used in future for property purchase?

If you jointly buy a property with someone who has previously owned, you can use a LISA if you're still a FTB.

so as i understand it the wife wouldnt be able to use the LISA for property purchase as she has lost her FTB when husband bought.

LISA can only be used for pension then?

P1Fanatic

ali576 said:

eskbanker said:

ali576 said:

apologies if this has already been answered but what would happen to your LISA if your husband/wife purchased a property in their own name. both being FTB.

can the LISA still be used in future for property purchase?

If you jointly buy a property with someone who has previously owned, you can use a LISA if you're still a FTB.

so as i understand it the wife wouldnt be able to use the LISA for property purchase as she has lost her FTB when husband bought.

LISA can only be used for pension then?

Its done individually. If say husband has previously owned a house and the wife is still an FTB then she could still use her LISA for a house.

eskbanker

P1Fanatic said:

ali576 said:

eskbanker said:

ali576 said:

apologies if this has already been answered but what would happen to your LISA if your husband/wife purchased a property in their own name. both being FTB.

can the LISA still be used in future for property purchase?

If you jointly buy a property with someone who has previously owned, you can use a LISA if you're still a FTB.

so as i understand it the wife wouldnt be able to use the LISA for property purchase as she has lost her FTB when husband bought.

LISA can only be used for pension then?

Its done individually. If say husband has previously owned a house and the wife is still an FTB then she could still use her LISA for a house.

There are potential complications - if one of a married couple owns a property while they're married, then the other effectively has a legal interest in that property as a marital asset, even if not named on mortgage or deeds, and thereby no longer satisfies the FTB criteria.  Perhaps if ali576 clarifies the exact situation (assuming it's not all hypothetical) then it would be possible to give a more informed view....

P1Fanatic

eskbanker said:

P1Fanatic said:

ali576 said:

eskbanker said:

ali576 said:

apologies if this has already been answered but what would happen to your LISA if your husband/wife purchased a property in their own name. both being FTB.

can the LISA still be used in future for property purchase?

If you jointly buy a property with someone who has previously owned, you can use a LISA if you're still a FTB.

so as i understand it the wife wouldnt be able to use the LISA for property purchase as she has lost her FTB when husband bought.

LISA can only be used for pension then?

Its done individually. If say husband has previously owned a house and the wife is still an FTB then she could still use her LISA for a house.

There are potential complications - if one of a married couple owns a property while they're married, then the other effectively has a legal interest in that property as a marital asset, even if not named on mortgage or deeds, and thereby no longer satisfies the FTB criteria.  Perhaps if ali576 clarifies the exact situation (assuming it's not all hypothetical) then it would be possible to give a more informed view....

Thats where the water gets muddy. How do the govt define “owned” e.g. name on deeds, named on a mortgage etc

ali576

eskbanker said:

P1Fanatic said:

ali576 said:

eskbanker said:

ali576 said:

apologies if this has already been answered but what would happen to your LISA if your husband/wife purchased a property in their own name. both being FTB.

can the LISA still be used in future for property purchase?

If you jointly buy a property with someone who has previously owned, you can use a LISA if you're still a FTB.

so as i understand it the wife wouldnt be able to use the LISA for property purchase as she has lost her FTB when husband bought.

LISA can only be used for pension then?

Its done individually. If say husband has previously owned a house and the wife is still an FTB then she could still use her LISA for a house.

There are potential complications - if one of a married couple owns a property while they're married, then the other effectively has a legal interest in that property as a marital asset, even if not named on mortgage or deeds, and thereby no longer satisfies the FTB criteria.  Perhaps if ali576 clarifies the exact situation (assuming it's not all hypothetical) then it would be possible to give a more informed view....

the scenario is as follows:

husband purchases a property and utilises LISA (during marriage) . this is the only name on mortgage and deeds. therefore:

husband: LISA has been used, not a FTB

wife: has a LISA, FTB

husband and wife(still married) in the near future want to purchase property again. husbands still has inital property. so question is can wifes LISA be used for the second purchase?

eskbanker

ali576 said:

eskbanker said:

P1Fanatic said:

ali576 said:

eskbanker said:

ali576 said:

apologies if this has already been answered but what would happen to your LISA if your husband/wife purchased a property in their own name. both being FTB.

can the LISA still be used in future for property purchase?

If you jointly buy a property with someone who has previously owned, you can use a LISA if you're still a FTB.

so as i understand it the wife wouldnt be able to use the LISA for property purchase as she has lost her FTB when husband bought.

LISA can only be used for pension then?

Its done individually. If say husband has previously owned a house and the wife is still an FTB then she could still use her LISA for a house.

There are potential complications - if one of a married couple owns a property while they're married, then the other effectively has a legal interest in that property as a marital asset, even if not named on mortgage or deeds, and thereby no longer satisfies the FTB criteria.  Perhaps if ali576 clarifies the exact situation (assuming it's not all hypothetical) then it would be possible to give a more informed view....

the scenario is as follows:

husband purchases a property and utilises LISA (during marriage) . this is the only name on mortgage and deeds. therefore:

husband: LISA has been used, not a FTB

wife: has a LISA, FTB

husband and wife(still married) in the near future want to purchase property again. husbands still has inital property. so question is can wifes LISA be used for the second purchase?

My understanding is that in this situation, the wife can be considered to have a legal interest in husband's property simply by virtue of being married (in that by default she'd be entitled to half of it if they divorced, for example) and therefore ceases to be a FTB for LISA purposes, but I'm not a lawyer!  Alternatively, if a LISA was usable on a FTB basis, there is certainly a requirement to occupy the property purchased with a LISA as one's main residence, so they'd need to move into the second one....

Alexland

Given the news that Interactive Investor are buying The Share Centre it will be interesting to see what they do about migrating the existing Lifetime ISA accounts onto the II platform. I doubt they would want to onward sell the existing LISA customer AUM onto a competing platform.

https://www.ftadviser.com/investments/2020/02/17/interactive-investor-to-buy-rival-platform-for-61-9m/

I guess II would need to allow the customers to continue operating their LISA accounts but might not allow future tax year subscriptions or maybe this could trigger II to start offering a LISA despite the management previously deciding against offering the product?

Alex

Chunkywelsh

Hi,
Apologies if my question has been asked (and answered) elsewhere, I couldn't find it!
Anyway.... Does anybody know the answer to this?
I am 42, I opened a LISA with Skipton just before turning 40 and have been paying in regularly since.  I've read on a few different LISA providers that you can transfer from one provider to another so I'd like to do that if I'm able, I just don't know if I can because I'm now over 40.
Any ideas?

Also, if anyone here has a stocks and shares LISA, are they worth it in your opinion? My LISA is for retirement so I'll be saving into it for another 8 years before I have to stop and I've read that it's potentially worthwhile holding an S&S LISA in that case.

Many thanks for any advice

P1Fanatic

I'm in a similar boat. I opened a LISA literally days before my 40th birthday and am now 42. I went S&S with Hargreaves Landsdown and just picked 3 random accumulation funds that had a decent growth history. To give you an idea I have stuck the full £4k in for the past 3 years = £15k once Govt 25% bonus added. Current value of LISA is £17.8K so £2.8k growth in just under 3 years. It was nearer £19k at one point but has been down a little recently. Of course growth is not guaranteed but as its a long term investment (cant take out until 60) the chances of it earning less than a Cash LISA are very slim.

As for the transferring side. Should be possible whilst still open for payments (up until age 50). Obviously as not many LISA providers the process may not be that smooth but I am sure others can confirm if that is the case. As for after 50 - I would still expect you can transfer it. The closer I got to 60 I would be looking to move mine to something more stable. Whether that is a Cash version or just moving my S&S into something stable like Gold or Govt Bond funds

masonic

Chunkywelsh said:

Hi,
Apologies if my question has been asked (and answered) elsewhere, I couldn't find it!
Anyway.... Does anybody know the answer to this?
I am 42, I opened a LISA with Skipton just before turning 40 and have been paying in regularly since.  I've read on a few different LISA providers that you can transfer from one provider to another so I'd like to do that if I'm able, I just don't know if I can because I'm now over 40.
Any ideas?

Yes, you are permitted to open a new LISA for the purpose of transferring in an existing LISA, even if you are over 40. The problem is finding a provider than accepts transfers.

Chunkywelsh said:

Also, if anyone here has a stocks and shares LISA, are they worth it in your opinion? My LISA is for retirement so I'll be saving into it for another 8 years before I have to stop and I've read that it's potentially worthwhile holding an S&S LISA in that case.

Are they worth it? Well, they are just like a S&S ISA, but you get a 25% bonus and can't withdraw until you are 60. If you are currently in your early 40s than that represents a ~20 year holding period, which is the sort of timeframe you should be thinking of investing over anyway. You can pay into a S&S ISA as well if you wish. The alternative is a pension, which can be better in some situations: see https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-isas/#pension-2