Help to Buy ISA question

thmaga

So, we’re about to purchase our first house.

I have been saving in my H2B ISA for a few years now and have over £10,000 in the account, so we’re set for a decent bonus.

Property prices are low here, so my share of the deposit is only £6300.

The question is, can I still claim the full bonus amount if I only use part of the total account balance for the deposit?

grumiofoundation

thmaga wrote: »

So, we’re about to purchase our first house.

I have been saving in my H2B ISA for a few years now and have over £10,000 in the account, so we’re set for a decent bonus.

Property prices are low here, so my share of the deposit is only £6300.

The question is, can I still claim the full bonus amount if I only use part of the total account balance for the deposit?

In answer to your final question - no

Haven’t used HTB ISA but looks like what happens is your conveyancer gets a closing statement for your HTB isa, and you get the bonus based on this. Therefore if you withdraw money prior to this you will only get the bonus on the remaining money.

Option 1) use only part, get smaller bonus (throwing away free money)
2) bigger deposit = bigger bonus

https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/help-to-buy-isa/faq/

sal_III

Why not bigger deposit?
You mentioned "my share of the deposit" who is paying the other share? Just use the full £10k for the deposit and get the other party to pay you back

Norman_Castle

thmaga wrote: »

Property prices are low here, so my share of the deposit is only £6300.

The property price makes no difference. Why can't you use the full 10K? Paying more than the minimum deposit will save you more over the term of the mortgage.

If you're buying with someone else can they give you 5k for half of your isa instead of using it as their share of the deposit to maximise the bonus or a variation of the above?

thmaga

Norman_Castle wrote: »

If you're buying with someone else can they give you 5k for half of your isa instead of using it as their share of the deposit to maximise the bonus or a variation of the above?

The original plan was that I would cover the entire deposit, and they pay me back what they owe.

They are concerned as the solicitor would only see deposit coming from me, this might cause an issue down the line if we were to split up and divide equity etc.

I didn’t want to have to go down the route of having a trust deed drawn up at a cost if possible.

When I re-read the H2B ISA process:

1.I close the account
2.The money transfers into my nominated account?
3.The solicitor claims the bonus
4.I still have to transfer money to the solicitor?

So I was just wondering if at that stage I could only transfer my share from the ISA funds and then my partner cover the rest.

I wouldn’t be withdrawing funds before closing the account.

sal_III

If you are buying it as Joint Tenants, instead of Tenants in common, it's irrelevant who contributes how much for the deposit. You each own 50% of the equity.

If you are going down the Tenants in common route, you might as well get the deed of trust in place too.

diggingdude

You can only get bonus on anything you use for deposit. There is no way to "play the game" and get a bonus bigger than you are due. If other person doesn't use htb ISA then get them to repay you and use your entire ISA and bonus. If you don't trust them dont bug s house together

purpleumbrella

The bonus is calculated on the closing balance of the ISA.

The bonus has to be used your house purchase but the savings in the ISA are yours to do what you want with.

PaulJA

The last two posts here contradict each other.

Anyone been paid the bonus to confirm how it works?

Can you only claim bonus on the amount you're using as the deposit? Or can you claim bonus on the closing balance of the ISA even if your intended deposit is less than the capital saved in the account?