Help to Buy ISA question

warnerr88

Hi all.

Me and my partner are FTB currently looking for a house, we have been saving up and putting the max £200 into our Help to Buy ISAs. We have got enough for our deposit and would like to use the next few months to save up for the solicitor fees. I would like to know would us stopping paying into the HTB ISAs have any effect on 25% bonus we would get when the purchase is going to go through?

Thanks

ashe

No, you can pay as much or as little at any point in time. however the HTB ISA can be used towards solicitors fees, it is just the bonus that cant be used for that, so you would benefit by putting those funds into the ISA and gaining the £50 bonus each per month during that time.

warnerr88

Ok so we can continue to put up to £200 into our Help to Buy ISA's until we have found a house we would like to buy, but then would we state to the solicitors/lender that £x amount is going to solicitor fees rather than deposit? I know that when we have found a property we need to go to the bank and get a closing statement so the solicitor can claim the bonus but what happens to the money in the ISA?

Thanks.

stevenhp1987

The money in the ISA goes back to your current account, either as a transfer or as a cheque when you request it be closed.

You can then forward that money onto your solicitor as you would normally. The bonus will be collected by the solicitor using the letter.

I suggest that you keep paying (to get the £50 x 2 extra per month) and request it be closed when you've found the house as it could take a couple of weeks for the letter to arrive (possibly longer!) - so don't exchange until after said letter has arrived!

warnerr88

Hopefully it's not too long before we find somewhere we like! Thanks both for your help