For the use of mortgage intermediaries & other professionals only

Help to Buy

At Halifax, we are committed to ensuring you are able to help more of your clients buy their home so we were the first Intermediary lender to support the Governments Help to Buy and offer mortgages on the schemes that they introduced.

Help to Buy scheme logo

What are the schemes?

Help to Buy: equity loan scheme

The Help to Buy equity loan scheme in England and Scotland is now closed.

Help to Buy equity loan scheme Wales.

  • Available on new build properties only being sold by builders registered with the scheme
  • Your client requires a deposit of at least 5%
  • The Welsh Government loans your client between 10% and 20% of the value of the property
  • Maximum LTV is 85% with minimum 10% equity loan and 5% customer deposit
  • The Government loan is interest free for the first 5 years. After 5 years your client will have to pay the interest on the Equity Loan. A local Help to Buy agent arranges the equity loan directly with your client
  • From 1 April 2023 all homes sold through the scheme will need to meet a minimum of EPC B and the purchase price cap will rise from £250k to £300k
  • Clients must be purchasing for their own occupation
  • Applicants must not own any other property at the time of purchasing
  • Application is keyed under the Shared Equity scheme.

For more information you can visit the Help to Buy Wales scheme website.

Help to Buy: ISA

This scheme was launched on 1 December 2015 and helps first time buyers save for their mortgage deposit. You can no longer open a new Help to Buy ISA but you can pay into these ISAs until November 2029 and can claim the 25% bonus until November 2030. The Government will provide a 25% bonus on the amount saved in the Help to Buy: ISA provided certain criteria are met. Full details are available from UKAR who administer the scheme, and some of the eligibility rules which affect mortgage clients are:

  • Client must be a first time buyer, and have never had any interest in a property within the UK or abroad.
  • The client will occupy the property as their only main residence, although some exceptions exist for Armed Forces.
  • Maximum property purchase price is £250,000 outside of Greater London, or £450,000 in Greater London.
  • All of the ISA bonus (min £400 and max £3,000) must be provided to the Conveyancer towards the deposit.
  • The HTB ISA is limited to one per person rather than one per home, so clients buying a home together will both benefit from the bonus if they both hold a Help to Buy ISA.
  • The ISA provider must give the client their ISA closing certificate within 7 business days of closure. The Conveyancer needs this to request the Government bonus from UKAR. The Conveyancer must be registered with UKAR to act for the client and obtain the ISA bonus. If the Conveyancer is not registered then UKAR will not provide the bonus to them. They must also complete a declaration for UKAR that the client is eligible to receive the bonus.