Help to buy deed of substituted security

ekulylime

We’re currently in the process of purchasing the freehold of our current home and tying this in with the sale of our property and purchase of another one, as our buyers were unhappy with the property being leasehold.

Because we are currently under the Help to Buy scheme, the Deed of Substituted Security needs to be approved by Help to Buy before everything can proceed.

The paperwork was first emailed to Help to Buy on 19th December 2025, and on 20/02/2026 we were told it had been submitted to the specialist team for review and approval.

After numerous phone calls and emails, we still haven’t had any updates, and nobody can give us a timescale for when the approval will be returned to our solicitor.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? If so, how long did it take for Help to Buy to approve the Deed of Substituted Security?

silvercar

Time to make a complaint.

eddddy

Have you been advised to do things this way?

You haven't provided much background info, but I'm guessing this is the situation:

1. You own a leasehold house
2. You're buying the freehold
3. You want to merge the freehold and leasehold titles (hence the need for a deed of substituted security)
4. Then you want to sell

Is that correct?

If so, maybe an easier way is to do this:

1. You own a leasehold house
2. You buy the freehold
3. You market the house as freehold
4. The buyer can choose to merge the freehold and leasehold titles as part of the conveyancing process, if they want (or leave them as 2 separate titles)

It will be simpler that way. (For example, no need for anyone to get a deed of substituted security.) The buyer will have to pay extra legal fees, but you could offer to reimburse them, if you want.

Or is the situation something completely different?

ekulylime

Thank you for your reply. That is correct. We originally placed our property on the market as a leasehold property; however, the majority of feedback from prospective buyers indicated a reluctance to proceed with a leasehold home. As a result, we made the decision to purchase the freehold in order to make the property more marketable.

A few months later, we accepted an offer on our property as a freehold home. We are now five months into this process and have reached the end of an eight-week complaint process with Help to Buy. We have now been advised by Help to Buy to escalate the matter to the Financial Ombudsman.

Our transaction is now at serious risk, and despite repeated attempts to obtain updates, we are still receiving no clear answers or timescales. Our buyers do not wish to proceed with the property as leasehold, which is entirely understandable.

We are extremely concerned about the impact these delays are having on both our sale and onward purchase so was curious how long others had waited to get the sealed deed back so we can proceed.

ekulylime

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82004059#Comment_82004059

posted a reply above

eddddy

ekulylime said

Our buyers do not wish to proceed with the property as leasehold, which is entirely understandable.

Ok - so like I mentioned, you seem to be hugely over-complicating things.

You don't need to merge the freehold and leasehold titles, so you don't need a deed of substituted security.

If your buyers want merged freehold and leasehold titles, their solicitor can do it on completion day. (So they will be buying a freehold house.)

Who has advised you to do what you are doing?

sheramber

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82004874#Comment_82004874

The buyers do not want that solution.

Our buyers do not wish to proceed with the property as leasehold, which is entirely understandable.

eddddy

sheramber said

The buyers do not want that solution

Our buyers do not wish to proceed with the property as leasehold, which is entirely understandable.

I'm pretty sure that I fully understand the problem.

• The OP (the seller) has a leasehold house
• The buyer wants to buy a freehold house

What I'm explaining is that the OP (the seller) is trying to solve the problem in a very strange, over-complicated (and expensive) way.

There are much quicker, simpler (and cheaper) solutions to the problem - which have exactly the same outcome. i.e. The buyer buys a freehold house.

If you google something like "freehold on completion", you might find further info.

So I'm wondering if the OP has a special reason for doing things in this strange way.

sheramber

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82005158#Comment_82005158

Tge buyer does not want to buy the freehold.

They want it done by the seller.

If the OP wants to sell to that buyer he has no choice.

eddddy

sheramber said

Tge buyer does not want to buy the freehold.

The buyer wants to buy a freehold house, presumably with no lease.

This is standard stuff.

sheramber said

They want it done by the seller.

Why would a buyer want the seller to do what the OP describes?

It's bad for the seller and it's bad for the buyer.

This is standard stuff, and there are standard ways of doing it.

(TBH, I think there's a possibility that the seller and/or buyer have 'guessed' how to do this. They probably need to ask a suitable solicitor to explain the 'proper way' to them.

Or alternatively, either the seller or buyer has an online 'conveyancing factory' solicitor, who won't touch anything unusual - so instead of the solicitor dealing with this, the solicitor is telling the OP to sort it out.)

So it's probably best to wait for the OP to come back with an explanation.

sheramber

The Op explained the position in his post of 19 May.

He has been online today so it Woukd seem he does not see the need to clarity again.