Help to Buy Options

The government has created a number of Help to Buy schemes aimed at helping people to take steps to buy their own homes. Some of the names are similar and ambiguous; clients calling for a conveyancing quote often get confused, so Clare Hallett, Conveyancing Partner, has set out a brief explanation of the schemes.

Help to Buy: Shared Ownership

If you can’t quite afford to make home ownership more affordable this scheme offers you the chance to buy a share of your home (between 25% and 75% of the home’s value) and pay rent on the remaining share. Later on, you could increase your shares when you can afford to.

To qualify, your household must earn £80,000 or less (£90,000 or less in London) and you must either be a first time buyer or, if previously owned a home, cannot afford to buy one now.

Please note that our conveyancing fees include an additional £400 + VAT for handling the arrangements for a Help to Buy Shared Ownership, due to the additional processes involved. This scheme can apply to new built properties or existing homes through resale programmes from housing associations.

You need a mortgage to pay for your share of the home’s purchase price, or fund this through your savings. Shared ownership properties are always leasehold.

Help to Buy: Equity Loan

In this scheme, the Government lends you up to 20% of the cost of your newly built home, so you’ll only need a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest. You won’t be charged loan fees on the 20% loan for the first five years of owning your home.

Help to Buy: ISA

This is designed to help people who are saving to buy their first home. It is a savings account which pays first-time buyers a government bonus of 25%. For example, if you save £200 a month, the government will add £50, up to a maximum of £3,000. This would boosting your ISA savings of £12,000, up to a total of £15,000.

The Help to Buy: ISA is available from a range of banks, building societies and credit unions. The accounts are available to each first time buyer, not each household. This means that if you are planning to buy with your partner, for example, you could receive a government bonus of up to £6,000 towards your first home.

Please note that our conveyancing fees include an additional £50 + VAT for handling the arrangements for a Help to Buy ISA.

Our Conveyancing Team, based in Christchurch, also cover Bournemouth, Poole and the New Forest. If you have any questions, you only have to ask us at Frettens. Please call 01202 499255 and Clare or her team, will be happy to provide a quote for your conveyancing and chat through your particular requirements.