Help to Buy ISA closed - house purchase collapse

Gas1883

Good evening, 
I closed my Help to Buy ISA last December with the expectation of moving into a new home in March, later than I hope but this the vendors request. Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course but everything was going smoothly at the end of last year with surveys etc all done. 
The purchase collapsed with vendors citing ill health of son and current pandemic leading them to pull out in March and the property is now off the market. 
Have I kissed goodbye to my bonus? or is there a way for me to extend the period I can claim it or even re-open the ISA in light of the circumstances?
I know I may find a new home in time to claim the bonus, but I am not overly confident about that. 
Would the bank be willing to let me re-open? who would agree an extension? 
If anyone is in the same boat or has some insight on this I would be very grateful. 
Thanks. 

margaretx9

You need your solicitor to issue you with what is called a purchase failure notification confirming the sale fell through.
https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/help-to-buy-isa/faq/
You can then take this to your bank or building society you ideally held your isa with (in theory any institution that still allows you to open them)and reopen your help to  buy ISA depositing the entire original balance as a lump sum. You can then claim the bonus when you finally buy.
So its possible under the rules - how its actioned under lockdown may be more difficult though? Who was your HTB ISA with?
But first step is to ask your solicitor for the PFN document

Gas1883

Thank you for that information I appreciate it. 
It was with Halifax.
Yes, not easy to get things done at the bank right now but this is a start! 

jkasc

I just managed to reopen my Help to Buy ISA with Barclays. It took around 3 1/2 months of chasing, loads of phone calls and chats with bots/customer service people over their website and twitter - it paints a very confused picture of the bank's inner workings.

The reopening hasn't been smooth. They've been very poor on communication. For about a week and a half they had cashed the cheque for the closing balance (£7.5k) but not reopened it or notified me. Only after my second long phone call this week have I determined for sure they have reopened it. Still now, they have cashed a cheque for a monthly payment (£200), and lost it - the ISA hasn't received this. Most delays and confusion due to Covid/Lockdown it seems.

But nicely they have credited me with interest for the intervening period, where my money was out of the ISA as it was closed. 

Ed-1

jkasc said:

I just managed to reopen my Help to Buy ISA with Barclays. It took around 3 1/2 months of chasing, loads of phone calls and chats with bots/customer service people over their website and twitter - it paints a very confused picture of the bank's inner workings.

The reopening hasn't been smooth. They've been very poor on communication. For about a week and a half they had cashed the cheque for the closing balance (£7.5k) but not reopened it or notified me. Only after my second long phone call this week have I determined for sure they have reopened it. Still now, they have cashed a cheque for a monthly payment (£200), and lost it - the ISA hasn't received this. Most delays and confusion due to Covid/Lockdown it seems.

But nicely they have credited me with interest for the intervening period, where my money was out of the ISA as it was closed. 

Are you getting the same interest rate you were getting before, or 1.7%?

jkasc

2.05% now. Apparently the rate was 2.55% until 15th June 2020.

Ed-1

Gas1883 said:

Thank you for that information I appreciate it. 
It was with Halifax.
Yes, not easy to get things done at the bank right now but this is a start! 

Are you getting the same rate you were getting before or 1.7%?

Ed-1

jkasc said:

2.05% now. Apparently the rate was 2.55% until 15th June 2020.

Meant to ask the OP, as Halifax have different issues of their Help to Buy ISA.