Top 10 facts and rules…
- Its only available to ‘First Time Buyers’
- ‘First Time Buyers’ can only have one Help to Buy ISA with one provider
- You can pay in £1,000 when you open the account and then save a maximum of £200 per month
- The maximum government bonus is £3,000 (but you can lower amounts of bonus if you have less than £12,000)
- The scheme will run for 4 years from the date it opens (Autumn 2015)
- Couples can have a Help to Buy ISA each which means if they don’t want to wait 4 years could save £12,000 in 25 months where as a single saver would need 55 months
- Unlike ISA’s where you open one per year, the Help to Buy ISA will continue for 4 years
- You can withdraw funds but if its not to buy a home then you won’t get the bonus
- More than 100,000 homes have now been bought with government backed schemes
- You will be able to get them at banks and building societies
Money Saving Expert has some useful Q&A including this one….
A first-time buyer is someone who does not and has never owned an interest in a residential property, either inside or outside the UK.
Many people have said “I owned a property previously but now rent”, “I have a shared ownership property” or “I have inherited a property” can I still open a Help to Buy ISA? And the answer is NO – you have to be a first-time buyer to open one.
steve@bicknells.net