Lifetime ISA Questions

QuestionsFromSurrey

Hi all,

I have a few questions regarding Lifetime ISA's. Please see below, all help is appreciated:

1. When is the 2020 (Current Tax Year) deadline to get the 25% Gov Bonus? End of March?
2. Is it likely the government will withdraw support for this product, and the money remain unaccessible
3.  Is it likely house prices will surpass the maximum property value allowed £450,000
4. If yes to 3, could you still withdraw your savings, and just pay the 25% charge so you can at least still put that money towards your depoist. 

eskbanker

1. 5 April strictly, but advisable to allow a few days headroom.
2. Possible that the product could be withdrawn but not likely IMHO, and if it was, then even less likely that money would remain inaccessible.
3. Plenty of house prices exceed £450K, but many don't and I can't envisage it being impossible to find any property below that.
4. Regardless of house prices, you can always withdraw from a LISA, paying the penalty if not doing so for a qualifying property purchase when below 60.

grumiofoundation

Edit: cross-posted with above.
1. Technically Tax year ends 5th April but sensible to pay in earlier. Some providers have an earlier cut off-date I think.
2. a) Probably unlikely lifetime ISA will be changed/withdrawn but obviously can't be guaranteed. Even if is withdrawn seems likely current users would be allowed to continue (cf. HTB ISAs) b) Not sure what you mean by remain inaccessible?
3. If you mean the average house price in UK (currently ~ £250,000) then probably not for quite a while. Whether £450,000 will buy the house you want in given area depends on the area, type of house, how long you are saving for etc...
4. You can withdraw (paying penalty) whenever you want for whatever reason.

Alexland

At least one provider Moneybox has a weird collection method that causes the tax year to end early and others might too with bank holidays.
I would suggest aiming to get the contributions done several weeks before the end of the tax year so any unexpected issues can be resolved.
Property prices will eventually increase and some buyers found the £250k limit on HTB ISAs outside London to be restrictive as the product got older.