Repaying Help to Buy Equity - harder than I thought/caution

xepija8686

Hi,

I am almost five years into buying my first home, which was financed by a deposit, a five year fixed 35 year mortgage, and importantly a 20% Help to Buy Equity element.

During this time I have been saving and overpaying my mortgage as fast as I can. Recently running the forecast I am aiming to be debt free in just over a year.

I want to pay off my Help to Buy Equity before the interest starts being charged and I am left with these questions.

1) I tried to sell my property listed for a year for about 10% less than original purchase price and the only offers I got were 20% less than original purchase price. I gave up selling. However, I am concerned as there was a single similar sale a year ago near me for 10% above original purchase price. I don’t want the valuer to overvalue my property and me to repay £’000s more on the Help to Buy Equity. Will they take my failed sale attempt as a clear indicator of value?
2) Why do I need a solicitor to do this, can’t I just make a payment and they confirm it’s completed?
3) Is there a detailed guide to repayment. The information on the government website is very brief.

Would love to hear from others who have gone through this as I thought it would be as simple as getting a valuation and paying 20% plus the admin fee.

dimbo61

They will only look at sold prices on Rightmove and Land registry.
So well done on overpaying and you need to check with lenders how much you can borrow.
Time to bite the bullet and buy the other 20% No matter how much they value it at.
Prices have gone up considerably in the last 12 months.
Your sale issue was the HTB loan !
Do you need a solicitor ?

xepija8686

Okay thanks, overall that shows a 14% decline in leaseholds within 1/4 mile of my place. So hopefully that will be taken into account.

Per the government website a solicitor seems to be needed:

“ Make sure you:

• send us a Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ valuation report for your property, so we can work out how much you need to repay
• have repaid any outstanding payments or arrears
• tell us your solicitor’s contact details and give them authority to act on your behalf”

kingstreet

You can't remove a HTB charge on your own. You need conveyancer assistance.

xepija8686

kingstreet said:

You can't remove a HTB charge on your own. You need conveyancer assistance.

Cool thanks - do you know what fee is reasonable for this?

chanz4

Be paying about 1k sol fee

xepija8686

dimbo61 said:

Your sale issue was the HTB loan !

Why would this impact things - I don’t think my estate agent even knew about it to tell people?