Lifetime ISA last minute

patchey1000

I’m currently in the early stages of buying a property. The deposit is funded from £16K in a lifetime isa and about £35K currently held in cash.
My offer has been accepted and I’d estimate it’ll take about 6 weeks at least.
Should I pay another £4K into the lifetime ISA after April 5th to try and get another £1000? My only issue is what would happen if the purchase completes before the bonus is paid? Will that cause any problems ?

pinknsparkly

You certainly can put another £4000 into your LISA. Buying property takes a looooooooong time so there's a good chance that your bonus may be added to the account before you complete. Plus your LISA provider will require 30 days notice before releasing the money (at least, Skipton does, others may not) so make sure you get the money requested sooner rather than later. However, if the bonus doesn't get credited to your account in time, then you can still withdraw the bonus money after you complete the purchase and pay the penalty to do so (25%) - which would mean you still end up with £750 more than you would have otherwise. Or keep it in there and consider moving it to an investment LISA to be withdrawn penalty free after you turn 60. Either way, it's free money!

If you do decide to do this then make sure that you and your solicitor requests the "entire balance" of your LISA to be paid out, not a specified amount of money to ensure that this will cover you whether the bonus is paid in time or not.

TheShape

patchey1000 wrote: »

I’m currently in the early stages of buying a property. The deposit is funded from £16K in a lifetime isa and about £35K currently held in cash.
My offer has been accepted and I’d estimate it’ll take about 6 weeks at least.
Should I pay another £4K into the lifetime ISA after April 5th to try and get another £1000? My only issue is what would happen if the purchase completes before the bonus is paid? Will that cause any problems ?

Am I right in thinking there are two LISAs involved here?

If you decide to add £4k you may wish to add £8k instead.

Alexland

TheShape wrote: »

Am I right in thinking there are two LISAs involved here?

Are you thinking of the large balance? If so it could be the OP started early with a HTB ISA and took up the offer of transfering previous tax year contributions into the LISA during the first year.

TheShape

TheShape wrote: »

Am I right in thinking there are two LISAs involved here?

If you decide to add £4k you may wish to add £8k instead.

Alexland wrote: »

Are you thinking of the large balance? If so it could be the OP started early with a HTB ISA and took up the offer of transfering previous tax year contributions into the LISA during the first year.

Yes. I was thinking of 2 x LISAs each with 2 years subscriptions of £4k = £16k. Of course I totally forgot about the bonus which would have been received :doh:

patchey1000

Just an update to help others in a similar situation. I requested the transfer of the full balance to my solicitor on the 6th of April and it took place after about 2 weeks.
This years £1000 bonus was paid into the LISA a few days ago along with an email from skipton with 3 options

1. Leave it and keep it for retirement
2.withdraw with penalty
3. If house purchase has not yet competed you can request it is transferred to the solicitor and added to the previous balance.

As the purchase has had not competed yet I was able to request option 3 and the solicitor received the money 2 days later so I will be able to use the bonus in full