GF Has a LISA but I am a home owner

boltneck123

Hi,

I have been looking into the LISA's recently - I am looking forward to opening one once I have more than a spare £20 to save per month and along with a few other things it will form part of my pension portfolio. Girlfriend is also keen to make full use of it once in a position to save also. We are both studying for our masters degrees so any form of long term saving with no access to the cash is not best for us at the moment.

The main reason for this post is because I want to try and clarify a few things so I can make sure that I choose the right savings path. A year from now our courses will be over and we will be back to working full time, so we can start to save for a house deposit. My girlfriend is a first time buyer and I am a home owner (currently own with my brother, not going to sell my share).

Obviously I wont be able to withdraw from my LISA for my share of the deposit, but my girlfriend will be able to. I want to establish how much my girlfriend can withdraw for the deposit. Logic tells me that if we buy together than she must only be able to withdraw an amount that is equal to 50% of the total deposit. However I cannot find any information about this scenario, because if when we apply for a mortgage and my girlfriend can submit as much as she chooses towards the deposit then it would be smart for me to put as much as I can in her LISA - while saving some in mine along side it for my pension.

Second, stamp duty - I assume that I will be liable for stamp duty on my 50% of the property value above the threshold?

Alternatively my girlfriend could just apply for a mortgage in her own name, the only issue is that her income alone would not be sufficient for the type of property we wish to buy; unless there is another approach that I have not foreseen?

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Pixie5740

I think your gf can withdraw as much as she wants to use as a deposit. The additional 3% SDLT will be due on the whole purchase price not just half of the purchase price so you need to factor that into your calculations and whether it's worth hanging on to your current property. You could get round this by your gf buying just in her name but if she can't meet affordability on her income alone then it's back to the drawing board.

boltneck123

Thanks for the response. At least if my GF can use as much as she wishes from the LISA then we can get to the deposit goal quicker. She is 7 years younger than me so there is more time to acquire bonus for a pension pot. I will just have to save the extra and pay the stamp duty, I see many days overtime in my future. It seems unfair that the whole consideration is liable for duty when one purchaser is a first time buyer.