HELP to BUY ISA

Newtown

OK after wasting 1 hour on phone I am here.

I have help to Buy ISA. Part of the purchase process is to ask a closing statement and then pass it to solicitor who will process it.

The Question I have is what if the sale does not goes through ? can you re activate the Help to Buy ISA ? is there a cooling off period ? what are your options in a situation where you have requested a closing statement but the purchase does not go through ?

Do you have to start again and build it up again ?

Apparently no one can answer it ( Bank, Mortgage broker , solicitor)

Anyone ?

Jaglad111

The bonus is only applied for on completion, the isa can be emptied after exchange. Speak to your solicitor, if they cant answer or get back to you its time for a new one.

alex_163163

No I do not believe you can re-open once closed. I think there is either a 3 or 6 month time limit to apply for the bonus once closed, so if it goes beyond that then you will lose the bonus amount unfortunately.
And I believe once you have had a HTB isa, you cannot open another one (even if the original purchase didn't go though.
This is what I understand from a friend who pulled out of her original purchase and then found somewhere else a couple of months later.

black_wings

Newtown - if you simply google 'help to buy isa' the first search result takes you to the goverent website for helo to buy isa's. There is a FAQs section which clearly sets out the steps for re-opening your help to buy isa if the purchase doesnt go ahead.
Ignore anyone who tells you otherwise.

Refer to government website for your source of accurate information.

Thrugelmir

You could always open a LISA.

Rich2808

This situation is explained here in the Govt FAQs - get a purchase failure notification from your solicitor and give that to your HTB isa provider. You can then reinvest the funds you withdrew on closure.

What happens if my house purchase does not go ahead?
If your property purchase doesn’t go through after you have closed your Help to Buy: ISA in anticipation of claiming a bonus, you can re-open your Help to Buy: ISA. To do this your solicitor or conveyancer will give you a document (called a purchase failure notification) confirming your property purchase did not complete. If you take this to your bank, building society or credit union, they will re-open your account for you. At this point, you will be able to deposit your money as a lump sum. So, if you closed your account with £12,000 in it, you will be able to re-deposit £12,000. If you decide not to re-open a Help to Buy: ISA, you can use your purchase failure notification to deposit your lump sum in a cash or stocks and shares ISA. This will not count towards your annual ISA subscription limit.

If the government bonus has already been transferred, your solicitor or conveyancer will first need to return your bonus to the Government before you can receive a purchase failure notice.

stevenhp1987

If the purchase falls through your solicitor needs to sign a purchase failure notification form.

You then send this form to your bank and they re-instate the ISA.

I've actually done this when my flat purchase fell through last year. Santander put the full amount I withdrawn (including the interest) in pulling the funds from my current account - it was the end of the month so I quickly put that month's £200 in the same day!