Help To Buy ISA or Lifetime ISA?

sherringham2001

Hello

I have a bit of a different circumstance and wondered if the Help to Buy or Lifetime ISA's can work for me. I live in a home that was left to me and my family by my late father. I own 3 quarters of it and the rest is owned by other family members. I have already bought out a family member and I want to buy out the remaining ones.

Am I able to use the Help to Buy or Lifetime ISA's to save fund's for this reason and receive the bonuses? I have never bought a property before, so this would be a first time buy. I am not looking to take out a mortgage and hope to buy out another relative when I have saved enough.

I currently have a cash ISA and I am looking at opening a Stocks and Shares ISA too. If I can open either the Help to Buy or Lifetime ISA's, could I have a cash and stocks and shares with one of them too?

Thanks for your advice.

masonic

You are not eligible for either HTB ISA or Lifetime ISA as you currently have a legal interest in property.

sherringham2001

That's answered that then, thanks for letting me know.

Ed-1

masonic wrote: »

You are not eligible for either HTB ISA or Lifetime ISA as you currently have a legal interest in property.

They can receive bonuses on the Lifetime ISA, but can't use them to make a penalty-free withdrawal for house purchase. They could withdraw penalty-free at age 60+.

sherringham2001

I was hoping to use them for my home, but it's good to know I could still use a Lifetime ISA for retirement, if I wanted to.

masonic

Yes, you could use the Lifetime ISA for retirement if open it while you are under 40 years old.

Francophile

My son will be 39 next April. I have been saving in a help to buy isa for him since 2016 and there is currently £9200 in the fund. Am I right in thinking if he hasn’t purchased a house by the time he is 39 he won’t be able to get the bonus? Can he transfer this money to a lifetime isa and is there an age limit for house purchase with the lifetime ISA?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Ed-1

Francophile wrote: »

My son will be 39 next April. I have been saving in a help to buy isa for him since 2016 and there is currently £9200 in the fund. Am I right in thinking if he hasn’t purchased a house by the time he is 39 he won’t be able to get the bonus? Can he transfer this money to a lifetime isa and is there an age limit for house purchase with the lifetime ISA?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

No you're not right. There's no age limit on using a Help to Buy ISA although you need to use it by November 2029 when the scheme closes.

The only age limit is on the Lifetime ISA. You can only open a Lifetime ISA up to and including age 39. You can use it for penalty-free withdrawal for house purchase at any time or when you reach 60.

eskbanker

Francophile wrote: »

Can he transfer this money to a lifetime isa

To pick up on this part of your post, he can transfer money from a HTB ISA into a LISA, but it doesn't circumvent the annual contribution limit of £4K for LISAs, which applies regardless of whether it's new or transferred money, so he could move it all from one to the other but only over three separate tax years.

Francophile

Thanks so much Ed-1 and eskbanker. I had been reading up on the subject but was getting confused. You’ve both clarified things for me .