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Help to Buy ISA bonus and lender cashback

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FTBNow
FTBNow Posts: 146 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of help and clarification!

We are ready to exchange on the property now, and my solicitor has told me that the Help to Buy ISA bonus and cashback from the Lender with our mortgage (about £750 altogether for both) cannot be used at exchange - only completion - which is fair enough.

However, she is requesting the full balance (£11,023.50) in order to exchange. Is this normal? This includes solicitor fees, mortgage deposit and so on. From what I've read the Help to Buy ISA bonus and cashback can only be used for legal fees, but if these are all paid off surely it will just be dead money?

I've requested we pay £750 less on exchange and the outstanding £750 made up of these two things on completion, but not sure if that can be done?

Any help appreciated.

Comments

  • arciere
    arciere Posts: 1,354 Forumite
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    The Help to buy ISA bonus is claimed by your solicitor on your behalf (at least this is what happened to us. You need to get a closing statement from the bank which shows how much you had in the account before you closed it.
    It is correct that the bonus cannot be used at exchange (which is usually 10% unless agreed otherwise), but your solicitor should get your bonus well before the completion date. So when he does the calculations on how much you still owe him, he should take into account the money he received from the government.
  • FTBNow
    FTBNow Posts: 146 Forumite
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    Thanks for the reply arciere.

    Solicitor has just phoned back, and has now confirmed that the money due on exchange is £750 less - with the £750 being required for completion. Had my heart going for a second though!
  • arciere
    arciere Posts: 1,354 Forumite
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    In my experience the money for the exchange comes from your deposit, not the bonus. At the end of the day the seller doesn't care where the money comes from, as long as he gets the 10% deposit. So I am surprised that you got the 'discount' at exchange and not after that.
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
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    arciere wrote: »
    So I am surprised that you got the 'discount' at exchange and not after that.

    Solicitor needs to ensure that the entire funds are in place to effect completion when exchange is made. As the ISA bonus etc is guaranteed the solicitor doesn't require all the funds to be in hand so to speak.
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