LISA - First time buyer

Jazz11

When does the money need to be in your Lifetime ISA to be able to use it for your house purchase? I want to put in an offer on a house over 250K so need to move 4k from HTB ISA TO LISA. So at least i can make use of the 25% bonus on the max 4k/year..
Just need to know when those funds need to be available in the the LISA (LISA is over 1 years old and has a small amount of money in it)

Mark_d

Buying your first home

You can use your savings to help you buy your first home if all the following apply:

• the property costs £450,000 or less
• you buy the property at least 12 months after you make your first payment into the Lifetime ISA
• you use a conveyancer or solicitor to act for you in the purchase - the ISA provider will pay the funds directly to them
• you’re buying with a mortgage

You cannot use your savings to buy a home if you’re getting a private mortgage from:

• your relative (a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild or sibling)
• someone who is married or in a civil partnership with your relative
• your spouse or civil partner
• a relative of your spouse or civil partner
• someone who is married or in a civil partnership with a relative of your spouse or civil partner

Buying with someone else

If the person you’re buying with has a Lifetime ISA, you can both use your savings and government bonus.

To qualify you must both:

• be first-time buyers
• meet all the conditions under ‘Buying your first home’

If you have a Help to Buy ISA

If you have a Help to Buy ISA as well as a Lifetime ISA, you can only use the government bonus from one of them to buy your first home.

You can transfer money from a Help to Buy ISA to a Lifetime ISA. If you transfer money from a Lifetime ISA to a Help to Buy ISA you’ll have to pay the 25% withdrawal charge.

Myci85

I was told it can take up to 6 weeks for the bonus to be applied when I queried (most of mine were applied within a month). So you would need to make sure you deposited the money early enough that you get the bonus in time. And then they say it can take up to 30 days once your solicitor requests funds for it to be paid to them, however our experience this month was our solicitor received the payment about 3 working days from them requesting it. 

Jazz11

Myci85 said:

I was told it can take up to 6 weeks for the bonus to be applied when I queried (most of mine were applied within a month). So you would need to make sure you deposited the money early enough that you get the bonus in time. And then they say it can take up to 30 days once your solicitor requests funds for it to be paid to them, however our experience this month was our solicitor received the payment about 3 working days from them requesting it. 

Thank you this is really helpful