LISA and the limited company

jjjgoulding

As an individual, can a LISA be used to purchase your first home (assuming all normal criteria are met: less than £450,000, in England, purchased with a mortgage) if you own/are a shareholder in a limited company which owns some residential property e.g. for property development or rental purposes?

masonic

Perhaps you could be more specific. There is a vast difference between the extremes here - from simply buying shares in a REIT to being a professional BTL landlord who has set up a SPV to hold their property portfolio. Though I doubt the answer will vary much - that if you have never personally owned a legal interest in residential property you would be able to complete the required declaration, there may be some nuance, thinking in particular about certain schemes HMRC retrospectively declared to be unsound, despite following the letter of the law at the time.

SimonWatson

I have exactly the same question.

Son 1 has his own property
Son 2 rents and is not likely to afford a property in London any time soon

Both are setting up a Ltd Co. Under which they will buy a BTL property as an investment.

If Son 2 then wants to buy a home for himself, in his own name, can he still use LISA/first time buyer allowances?

Cheers

masonic

I don't believe there is anything explicit in the rules prohibiting this, but this is exactly the scenario I had in mind when I mentioned the risk of future clawback above (or an amendment of the rules to close this potential loophole).

Alexland

I agree the LISA uses the HTB ISA definition of a First Time Buyer which is "I do not own, and never have owned any interest in land". Having an interest in a limited company that has invested in a BTL property should be within the rules when buying your own first property as a home.

https://lifetimeisa.campaign.gov.uk/#withdrawing_for_your_first_home
https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/documents/2015/12/eligibility-of-ftbs.pdf/

Alex