Help to Buy ISA guide

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  • Rich2808
    Rich2808 Posts: 1,332 Forumite
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    Hayley86 wrote: »
    Hi,
    I am a first time buyer and set up a help to buy ISA. However, when I had an appointment with Halifax the mortgage advisor said I couldn't use the ISA if I wanted to only do a 5% deposit? I haven't read this anywhere in the T&Cs and still cant? Can anybody help?

    The advisor is taking rubbish.

    Your solicitor claims the bonus from the governement. What your LTv ratio happens to be is irrelevant - any residential mortgage will do.
  • McPrank
    McPrank Posts: 1 Newbie
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    Hello,

    Both me and my partner are British citizens with British bank accounts on British working contracts in Italy for the next nine months. Would we be able to set up our help to buy ISAs on our next visit to the UK and then continue to pay into the account from Italy for the next 6-9 months?

    Many thanks,
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 23,278 Forumite
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    McPrank wrote: »
    Both me and my partner are British citizens with British bank accounts on British working contracts in Italy for the next nine months. Would we be able to set up our help to buy ISAs on our next visit to the UK and then continue to pay into the account from Italy for the next 6-9 months?
    That depends on the date of your next visit and your UK residency for tax purposes on that date. If you can visit before the end of this tax year and have only recently relocated to Italy, then you would probably be ok.
  • colsten
    colsten Posts: 17,597 Forumite
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    It all depends on your tax status. You must be a UK resident for tax purposes, or on Government/Forces business if abroad, to be entitled to making any deposits into any ISA.

    There is more info, and I think a test, about tax residency on gov.uk
  • Doctorbill
    Doctorbill Posts: 1 Newbie
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    My partner and I applied for a Help to Buy ISA last year aiming to purchase a new build property in late summer/early autumn of this year. However, because the housing market is so buoyant where we live, prices are moving up all the time. We were therefore forced to buy off plan in February of this year. Our parents gave us the money for the deposit. What does this mean for our Help to Buy ISA?. Will we still benefit from the Help to Buy scheme when we come to complete on the new house e.g. could the funds be used to pay e.g. stamp duty or to pay down part of the mortgage or is Help to Buy limited exclusively to providing help with the deposit?
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 31,066 Forumite
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    Doctorbill wrote: »
    is Help to Buy limited exclusively to providing help with the deposit?
    No, quite the opposite in fact - it can't be used for the deposit (in your sense of an advance reservation fee). It can only be used at completion of purchase, so yes, put it towards the final purchase price and reduce your mortgage by the corresponding amount....
  • Nozza86
    Nozza86 Posts: 3 Newbie
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    eskbanker wrote: »
    No, quite the opposite in fact - it can't be used for the deposit (in your sense of an advance reservation fee). It can only be used at completion of purchase, so yes, put it towards the final purchase price and reduce your mortgage by the corresponding amount....

    You CAN use the bonus towards your deposit. Me and my partner completed on our house purchase last week and used the bonus towards our deposit - we transferred our deposit and cost of fees to our solicitors minus the bonus of £900 we were due from the government on the same day our solicitor put the claim in for our bonus... 5 days later they received the £900 from the government and we completed.

    Hope that puts people's minds at ease!
  • Amy_Braganca
    Amy_Braganca Posts: 2 Newbie
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    Hi,

    I am a bit confused about the new Help to buy ISA. So do i need to put in £1,200 to open the account? then £200 every month to qualify? Any advice would be great.

    Thanks,
    Amy
  • Ed-1
    Ed-1 Posts: 3,892 Forumite
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    Amy_Braganca wrote: »
    Hi,

    I am a bit confused about the new Help to buy ISA. So do i need to put in £1,200 to open the account? then £200 every month to qualify? Any advice would be great.

    Thanks,
    Amy

    You can put in a maximum of £1200 in the first month then £200 per month thereafter. You don't need to. You then get a 25% bonus on the closing balance when you buy a house (up to a maximum of a £3000 bonus).
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 31,066 Forumite
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    Nozza86 wrote: »
    You CAN use the bonus towards your deposit. Me and my partner completed on our house purchase last week and used the bonus towards our deposit - we transferred our deposit and cost of fees to our solicitors minus the bonus of £900 we were due from the government on the same day our solicitor put the claim in for our bonus... 5 days later they received the £900 from the government and we completed.

    Hope that puts people's minds at ease!
    The point I was making is that people use the term 'deposit' for two completely different things, and HTB ISAs only apply to one of these! You're talking about filling the gap between purchase price and mortgage value at completion time, which is the deposit a HTB ISA can be used for. The poster I was replying to was using the term 'deposit' in the other sense, i.e. an upfront payment well ahead of purchase completion, and HTB ISA can't be used for that....
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