Lifetime ISAs guide

red_mush95

eskbanker said:

red_mush95 said:

Is it possible for me to open a LISA in my name for a first time purchase for us to purchase a new home together? Could we use the money from the sale of her house to contribute towards the cost of this new house alongside money from my LISA? 

Yes to both - a first time buyer can use a LISA alongside someone who's owned before, and the LISA money itself will never be enough to fund an entire property purchase!

Thats amazing news. Thank you very much. I had a feeling this was the case but just wanted to make sure. Opened my LISA this evening. 

tomreaney

Hi there, first time posting on here, so perhaps my question may have already been answered in some form or another (if so, please link to appropriate response). 

I am currently saving for buying a first home, and my goal is to be ready to do so by Mid 2024 (not really for savings reasons, more for personal reasons), so still a good 18+ months yet to come before I would want to move out. I currently have just roughly £5,000 in a help to buy, but I was reading something recently that got me thinking that if I could be better placed moving this (obviously max 4k of it) over to a LISA if my goal is to move by roughly June 2024. 

Am I correct in thinking if I moved £4,000 of it into a LISA now, then added another £4,000 in April for tax year 2023, and finally added another £4,000 in April 2024 I would end up with a £3,000 bonus towards my first home? Or is this bonus pro-rated based on the number of months the account is open for? 

By June 2024, I would only have managed to add a further £3,600 to my £5,000 in the help to buy, meaning my total is £8,600 with a maximum bonus of £2,150. However, if my theory above is correct, I would get a bigger bonus (£3,000) by moving over to the LISA?

eskbanker

tomreaney said:

Am I correct in thinking if I moved £4,000 of it into a LISA now, then added another £4,000 in April for tax year 2023, and finally added another £4,000 in April 2024 I would end up with a £3,000 bonus towards my first home?
Yes.

Or is this bonus pro-rated based on the number of months the account is open for?
No.

By June 2024, I would only have managed to add a further £3,600 to my £5,000 in the help to buy, meaning my total is £8,600 with a maximum bonus of £2,150. However, if my theory above is correct, I would get a bigger bonus (£3,000) by moving over to the LISA?
Yes.

Answers inline above - it does make financial sense to port your money over from HTB to LISA, as long as you won't buy for at least a year....

[Deleted User]

It says that people are not allowed to open Lisa account and withdraw money specifically for the first home, if ever owned a property whether in the UK or outside. 

I wanted to open a saving cash LISA account with Moneybox and after roughly 2 years withdraw the money to buy my first house in the UK, but I do own a share of a property outside the UK( Republic of Moldova), which is €6,000(market value) only. Will Moneybox or bank be able to trace my ownership of a share of a property outside the UK( country which is not even in EU)? 

So does it mean that I am not allowed to open cash Lifetime ISA for the first time home buying purposes? 

eskbanker

[Deleted User] said:

It says that people are not allowed to open Lisa account and withdraw money specifically for the first home, if ever owned a property whether in the UK or outside. 

I wanted to open a saving cash LISA account with Moneybox and after roughly 2 years withdraw the money to buy my first house in the UK, but I do own a share of a property outside the UK( Republic of Moldova), which is €6,000(market value) only. Will Moneybox or bank be able to trace my ownership of a share of a property outside the UK( country which is not even in EU)? 

So does it mean that I am not allowed to open cash Lifetime ISA for the first time home buying purposes? 

If you've owned residential property anywhere in the world then you're not allowed to withdraw money from a LISA without penalty until you're 60.  Whether or not you'd actually be caught if you made a fraudulent false declaration is another story, but obviously that can't be recommended or condoned....

DE_612183

I think you can open a LISA however when you with to withdraw the funds you have to declare that you are a first time buyer - and as you've already said if you have an interest outside the UK you should declare it.

It you don't you are making a fraudulent declaration to HMRC.

You can of course take the chance that you won't get found out, but if you do then I guess you are guilty of fraud.

There is also a moral viewpoint as well, if you take money from the government which you are not entitled to, then you are in the same bucket as benefit fraudsters and tax evaders.

[Deleted User]

Then I will not open Lisa. I don’t want to have any troubles with HMRC

twins_2_Be

Is it possible to have a LISA (Lifetime ISA £4k max) with one provider and a normal ISA (max £16k) with another provider? 

Option 1: (LISA + ISA different providers) The problem is my 18+ son wants to take advantage of LISA but Fidelity don't offer LISAs.  He can have a LISA with say MoneyBox but he would like the have the rest of the ISA with Fidelity.  Happy to have LISAs with one provider and the rest of the ISA with Fidelity if that is allowed (obviously staying within the £20k total limit).  

Option 2: (Move LISA to ISA provider) If you cannot have 2 different LISA/ISA in one tax year ....If he contributes £4k into MoneyBox LISA (and waits for £1k bonus) and then transfers that to Fidelity, does it get converted/lumped in the Fidelity ISA?  Or would it get rejected by Fidelity on the basis that Fidelity doen't do LISA?

Thanks in advance for your help?

P1Fanatic

Yes you can have seperate but its up to you to ensure you don't exceed the annual £20k ISA limit with both combined. Option 2 wont work as you cant transfer a LISA into any other type of ISA - at least without losing the bonus.

Grownglow

Hi everyone! 

Is it too late to open a LIsa and get the gov bonus for this financial year? 

Should I wait until April to open one or could I still get this year and next year's bonus?