First time buyer LISA - owner of overseas property? and $450k cap?

stcylives

Hello,
The rules for the First time buyer LISA say that you cannot have ever owned a property in the UK or the rest of the world.
How do they know if you have owned a property overseas?

Also the max amount ($450k) doesn't go very far in London. Can you use the LISA to purchase something through Shared Ownership, where the value of the property is more than $450k but you are purchasing 25% or 50% through a shared ownership scheme?

Thankyou

eskbanker

stcylives said:

The rules for the First time buyer LISA say that you cannot have ever owned a property in the UK or the rest of the world.
How do they know if you have owned a property overseas?

They're unlikely to know (or realistically be able to find out) but you'd need to make a fraudulently false declaration that you hadn't owned before, so that's obviously not recommended.

stcylives said:

Also the max amount ($450k) doesn't go very far in London. Can you use the LISA to purchase something through Shared Ownership, where the value of the property is more than $450k but you are purchasing 25% or 50% through a shared ownership scheme?

No, it's the total property value that's measured against the £450K cap, rather than the share.