Help to buy isas

[scaredofthecity]

Can somebody please help as my solicitor does not have a clue :(
Where does the bonus money actually go? I though it was towards the deposit but it seems this is wrong.

It appears it goes towards the completion but does this mean its offset against your mortgage payments? Or does it literally go towards the house's sale and you don't actually see it. If this is the case then I don't really see how this is helping first time buyers at all and I don't really see the point.

We (stupidly) thought it was money we would actually see to help us towards the initial cost. Unfortunately I've got the feeling it's going to leave us very tight.

[MumOfTwoMasterOfNone]

I can't help sorry but I thought the same as you, that it goes towards deposit/stamp duty etc. Worrying that your solicitor doesn't know...id pass it back to them as their responsibility to sort. I do know they can charge you to administer it but it is capped at £50 (I think).

[whois]

You can't use it as part of the 10% deposit you pay on exchange. But it is paid as part of the transfer of funds on completion.

So I suppose that might cause you a problem if you are having a 90% or a 95% mortgage as you won't have 10% in funds to transfer to the solicitor for exchange. Not sure what you do then - surely your solicitor should know what happens when people have a 95% mortgage so don't have 10% to transfer?

It appears it goes towards the completion but does this mean its offset against your mortgage payments? Or does it literally go towards the house's sale and you don't actually see it.

I think you are confusing your deposit as in equity you are contributing, with the deposit you pay to the solicitor on exchange (typically 10%).

The help to buy bonus doesn't 'come off the mortgage payments'. It is part of your overall cash to be used on completion.

You never see it? Well you see it in the important way which is that if you didn't have it, you woudl need a lager mortgage to cover the shortfall!

How were you expecting to use it?

[scaredofthecity]

Sorry I've been out all day.

I get that it's money off the final amount but I thought the whole point was too help first time buyers with the initial funds required to purchase. The maximum bonus you can get its £3000, this is very useful when you have the deposit and fees to find all at once. But £3000 off your morgage, let's be honest you're not really going to notice it.

I have spoken to my solicitor again and after some research she seems to think it comes off the amount to pay in someway but we'll just have to see how! We have paid the full deposit.

The house we are buying needs work doing and that money was earmarked. So I really hope it does come through. Otherwise life could be a bit uncomfortable for a while.

[Notyetthere]

I would not worry about the funds too much that get transferred to the solicitor to passed through the chain. We transferred 6% of the funds at exchange and it seemed not to be a problem. We did however, check with our solicitor first. However, you will still be liable for 10% penalty if failed to complete after exchange.

Speak to your solicitor to advise you.

[Notyetthere]

Too much use of the word 'However'. Sorry

[Notyetthere]

Oh just seen your reply OP. Can you not explain to solicitor that you hoped to get the HTB bonus back to use for other things? Hopefully thy could transfer back the difference from the original deposit payments that you made?

[YelloDraw]

The house we are buying needs work doing and that money was earmarked

Ok, so if you never included the bonus figures in your deposit/mortgage calc, then you should end up with an extra £3k at completion that you weren't expecting. So the solicitor should be able to use the bonus £3k towards completion, and then transfer back to you the surplus £3k of you deposit money that is not now needed (because the bonus takes it place).

Solicitor should be more on the game, but mine is crap too so sympathies!

[catchthetide]

It gets paid back to your solicitor between exchange and competition. They can then either send it to you, take it off their bill, or put it towards the remainder of your deposit.

How it worked for us was - she applied for the bonuses. She received them - sent us her final bill for her outstanding fees, stamp duty and remainder of our deposit, MINUS the bonus money already received. We paid the rest to her before completion.

We panicked when we read online about it coming off the mortgage too - that doesnt happen.