Claiming help to buy ISA bonus

mse642819

Hi,

My solicitor is not going to be able to claim the bonus before competition as they're not registered with the scheme yet.

Does anyone know if there's any way to claim the bonus after competition or to use a different solicitor to claim the bonus?

Arenea

We're in the same position - our solicitor has also said they have no intention of registering and doesn't know anyone locally who does. Apparently, the amount of work involved means it's not worth it for them. Hopefully, this may change as more clients need to claim or the government will review their process. But that doesn't help us right now.


It all feels like a massive con - the government can claim to have a highly successful scheme on the number of accounts opened, yet I wonder what proportion of people make a successful claim. I haven't seen any warning that this could be an issue. We're the second clients they've had so far that are likely to write off the bonus, rather than paying for another conveyancer (from what appears to be a very restricted list atm)

colsten

I understand your frustration but it's not a massive con just because the solicitor you have chosen doesn't want to play ball. Lot's of people have already benefitted w/o problem.

If I were you, I'd try and change solicitor, and/or contact my MP for help. Avoid emotion and loaded words such as 'con' or 'rip-off'.
https://www.writetothem.com/

MARTYM8`

colsten wrote: »

I understand your frustration but it's not a massive con just because the solicitor you have chosen doesn't want to play ball. Lot's of people have already benefitted w/o problem.

If I were you, I'd try and change solicitor, and/or contact my MP for help. Avoid emotion and loaded words such as 'con' or 'rip-off'.
https://www.writetothem.com/

Simple answer - scrap the solicitor role in this and let your mortgage lender claim it for you and offset it against your first mortgage payment(s).

Why should you have to pay £60 out of your bonus to get a solicitor to fill in a few forms online when mortgage lenders will probably agree to do it for nothing.

That would avoid the problem entirely - because if often too late that people find out that their solicitor isn't registered and they can't get the promised bonus.

The Government could easily make this change - so the FTB gets the full benefit of the bonus.

pinkdalek

Arenea wrote: »

We're in the same position - our solicitor has also said they have no intention of registering and doesn't know anyone locally who does. Apparently, the amount of work involved means it's not worth it for them. Hopefully, this may change as more clients need to claim or the government will review their process. But that doesn't help us right now.


It all feels like a massive con - the government can claim to have a highly successful scheme on the number of accounts opened, yet I wonder what proportion of people make a successful claim. I haven't seen any warning that this could be an issue. We're the second clients they've had so far that are likely to write off the bonus, rather than paying for another conveyancer (from what appears to be a very restricted list atm)

Solicitors can be !!!!!!s can't they

Rich2808

pinkdalek wrote: »

Solicitors can be !!!!!!s can't they

That's why they should be taken out of the process - one less thing for them to mess up and rip you off over.

You get a £500 bonus from the government - assuming you close your HTB a isa now - and they get £60 of it - why?!

ash_garbutt

This is just happening to me, I'm really disappointed as I didn't hear anything on the tv program or read anything on the website saying to make sure your solicitor is registered with the scheme. So I have gone with a local recommended solicitor, already paid out for drainage checks etc. The time has now come to close my isa and take the closing statement to my solicitor only to find out they aren't registered with the scheme. I know I have been quite naïve and should probably have asked the question when I first contacted my solicitor, Although this is all new to me, and I haven't actually had a direct conversation with the solicitor only the receptionist being the middle man who didn't even know what a help to buy isa was. A heads up from Martin would have helped me out a lot and now i'm going to be £550 down

grey_gym_sock

Rich2808 wrote: »

That's why they should be taken out of the process - one less thing for them to mess up and rip you off over.

You get a £500 bonus from the government - assuming you close your HTB a isa now - and they get £60 of it - why?!

do you expect solicitors to do extra work for no money?

mortgage lenders won't do work for no money either. though they might hide the costs by marginally raising mortgage rates for FTBs - easily done, when they are charging many thousands of pounds interest.

loopysilvette

Oh No, I hope after reading this it doesnt happen to me.
We are due to complete next week and 1) Havent got out closing statement and 2) are waiting on the Solicitor to register.
I had a bit of a go last week when they said they were not registered. I told them I had explicitly mentioned this when hiring them and they need to register- they have not told me to f*** off yet.

My problem is the wait- waiting on the letter and waiting on them to register- with no feedback.
Has anyone been successful in claiming this- is my completion going to be delayed much longer?

Rich2808

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

do you expect solicitors to do extra work for no money?

mortgage lenders won't do work for no money either. though they might hide the costs by marginally raising mortgage rates for FTBs - easily done, when they are charging many thousands of pounds interest.

I wouldn't have solicitors do the work.

The dozens of mortgage lenders could easily set up systems more cost effectively rather than thousands of solicitors doing one off HTB isa cases every couple of months, it's called economies of scale - the mortgage lenders operate the help to buy isas so why not let them run the whole show.

It must be terrible to have got close to completion thinking all is fine and then find out you cannot claim your bonus as your solicitor isn't registered for the scheme.