Can I use LISA to buy property off my partner

LostActuary

I live with my wife who has a mortgage on the property and I am a first time buyer. The house value is roughly £350k so under the £450k limit.

I want to open a LISA and buy the property off my wife. Is this allowed? In the sale I plan to use my LISA, the equity in the house and other savings as a deposit.

I read somewhere that my wife’s income can also be used to support my application when buying a house. Can she in addition put her name on the house?

Is this a bulletproof plan?

Alexland

Even if it was possible the solicitor fees (for both the seller and buyer) would outweigh the LISA bonus. That's if you can find 2nd rate solicitors and a mortgage company who would participate in such a dubious transaction. They probably value their business integrity too highly to get involved in your scheme.

LostActuary

Thanks for your reply Alexland.

I won!!!8217;t describe it as a !!!8220;dubious transaction!!!8221; as my intentions are not along that line.

My aim is to put my name on a property for the first time avoiding unnecessary friction, so if the LISA bonus covers legal fees I don!!!8217;t mind, as it will have covered similar fees if I was purchasing a different house when would have come with even more fees like estate agents.

My primary aim is to contribute fairly into my wife!!!8217;s property so I can confidently say we own it together. Maxing out my Lisa for say the next 4years and adding extra savings will allow me to do this with my other savings.

And in 10years time we can use the house we own together to purchase our final/dream home.

masonic

LostActuary wrote: »

My primary aim is to contribute fairly into my wife!!!8217;s property so I can confidently say we own it together. Maxing out my Lisa for say the next 4years and adding extra savings will allow me to do this with my other savings.

If you are planning to do this at least 4 years in the future, then perhaps it's time to take an intermediate step towards your dream home and purchase a new property together. That would allow you to use the LISA penalty free. Doing what you suggest is unlikely to work IMO and you won't find out until you've committed the money to the LISA.

Alexland

It should be lot cheaper and easier to get your name added to the property and mortgage than trying to go through the whole process of selling the property back to yourselves in order to use the LISA bonus.

Alex