Please explain help to buy ISA

[xXwhenwillitendXx]

I'm very confused and just want to give up on the whole idea of buying a house.
We are buying out house from LL, as this was an unexpected turn if event we have literally had to find money and can only afford a 5% deposit.
So house is 235000, I have 2000 saved in ISA and 10k in savings account. Morgage broker said I only needed the 10k
Solicitor has just informed me I can't use ISA as part of deposite?? So does that mean I need to find the extra 1750??
If so why did the bank say 10k in savings was proof of deposit.
I'm so confused, if someone can explain this to me in very simple terms it would be very much appreciated.

Hello. We have recently bought and had a help to buy ISA. How it works is this: once you've saved as much as you can in it, you close the account. You need to make your solicitor aware that to have the ISA and then send them the closing statement. Only when the house looks likely to complete will they apply for the government bonus. Ours mentioned it after we exchanged but before we completed. As long as they are registered to administer the scheme, it only takes 5 days or so to come through. Our solicitor sent us the request to settle their bill and it showed the ISA bonus as having been deducted out if their fees. Having closed the account, we were able to use the amount we'd saved (£6000) as part of our deposit. I think they tell you that you can't use the bonus for your deposit as it doesn't come through until after they applied for it, and the time scale on this could vary.

I hope that makes sense? I got very confused by the whole think if I'm honest but happy to explain further

So does that mean the savings in the ISA can be used towards the deposit, but not the bonus?

Yes, absolutely. I totally didn't realise this for ages and couldn't get my head round how it worked. It was like pulling teeth trying to get this info out of my solicitor.
But your money is your money. You only get the gov bonus when the account is closed and a solicitor apples for it for you. The bonus will come back to you later it just depends how quickly.

We just told our solicitor we were using a help to buy Isa and they filled in a request to Skipton for us. They can request the deposit funds including bonus up to 90 days before the completion. We did not close our account, the solicitor needs to request the funds directly to get the bonus I believe?

I work in conveyancing. You can absolutely use the ISA bonus towards your deposit. The thing is you need to apply for the bonus before completion - it can't be used afterwards. Close your account, give the closing statement to your conveyancer and they should get you to complete a form and then apply for the bonus in time for settlement. If you couldn't use the help to buy ISA for a deposit what would be the point?

The bonus is usually paid to the solicitor. The money in your account when you close it is obviously still your money.