Help to Buy schemes – FAQs

It might, if you have at least a 5% deposit saved, can prove you can afford the mortgage payments and meet the provider’s lending conditions (which vary between lenders).

The Help to Buy Equity Loan schemes are available in England. If you live elsewhere in the UK, you can use:

• Help to Buy Scotland at mygov.scotOpens in a new window
• Help to Buy Wales at gov.walesOpens in a new window
• Help to Buy Northern Ireland at housingadviceniOpens in a new window

If your home’s value falls or stays the same, it could be harder to pay back the government’s equity share. This could make it harder to get another mortgage when you move.

Discuss your options with your mortgage lender or broker before you start looking for another property.

This depends on your individual circumstances.

The scheme is designed to help people who have already made the decision to buy and who have a deposit of at least 5% and can afford the mortgage repayments. But make sure you have enough savings to cover the other costs, such as the legal fees and Stamp Duty.

This scheme is open for applications until 31 October 2022 and home purchases must be completed by 31 March 2023. It’s only open to first-time buyers and is subject to regional price caps.

When you sell your Help to Buy home you will repay your equity loan at the same time. So if you initially purchased with a 75% mortgage and a 5% cash deposit and have made no other repayments you’ll repay 20% of the value of your home at the time you sell.

Remember you can sell your home at any time, but an independent valuer must decide what it’s worth.

If you have a Help to Buy equity loan, you can still remortgage. If you’re staying with your current lender and do not want to borrow more money, you do not need to get permission to remortgage.

However, you will need to repay the equity loan. The amount you need to repay is worked out based on the market value of your property and the amount of your equity loan.

If you want to remortgage and borrow more money, you will need to get permission from the administrator of your Help to Buy scheme. You will only be allowed to do this under certain circumstances.

When you sell, the full amount of the equity loan you received will have to be paid as a percentage of the sale.

This means if the market value of your property falls below the level at which it was first purchased, you will repay less than the original amount that you borrowed through the equity loan scheme. For example, if you purchased a home valued at £250,000 of which 20% was made up of an equity loan (£50,000) and the value of your home subsequently fell to £200,000. You would only need to pay back 20% of £200,000 which is £40,000.