Help to Buy

Key Criteria

Help to Buy Equity Schemes (England) mortgages are considered by the Society. The Help to Buy Scheme is changing with effect from April 2021 although applications can be made from 16th December 2020. The existing scheme will continue to run until end of March 2021. The principle details of the scheme remain the same and are outlined below however the new scheme has additional restrictions namely:

• Availability restricted to first time buyers only
• Regional property price caps introduced as follows:
  • North East £186,100
  • North West £224,400
  • Yorkshire and Humber £228,000
  • East Midlands £261,900
  • West Midlands £255,600
  • East of England £407,400
  • London £600,000
  • South East £437,600
  • South West £349,000

Specific scheme rules include:

• Repayment only - maximum term of 40 years.
• Available on new build houses/flats in England up to a purchase price of £600,000.
• Must be your client's only property.
• Minimum 5% deposit.
• Maximum 75% LTV.
• The remainder (up to 20%) of the loan is funded by the government through an equity loan, which is interest-free for the first five years. Interest is charged from year six and the equity loan will run for 25 years (unless your client chooses to pay it back sooner).
• For affordability purposes we take the equity loan as a monthly commitment based on 3% of the total loan.
• Maximum Income Multiple of 4.5 x
• For Help to Buy we will accept cash based deposits (builders' deposits/stamp duty/legal fees) and incentives such as white goods or carpets up to 5% without a requirement to reduce the sale price.

London Help to Buy

• Repayment only - maximum term of 40 years.
• Available on new build houses/flats in Greater London (plus city of London) up to a purchase price of £600,000.
• Must be your client's only property.
• Minimum 5% deposit.
• The remainder (up to 40%) of the loan is funded by the government through an equity loan, which is interest-free for the first five years. Interest is charged from year six and the equity loan will run for 25 years (unless your client chooses to pay it back sooner).
• For affordability purposes we take the equity loan as a monthly commitment based on 3% of the total loan.
• Maximum Income Multiple of 4.5 x
• For Help to Buy we will accept cash based deposits (builders' deposits/stamp duty/legal fees) and incentives such as white goods or carpets up to 5% without a requirement to reduce the sale price.

Find out more about the Help to Buy scheme from the official Government website and find your local Help to Buy agent.

To find out more, please call our Intermediary Support Team on 0345 602 2338 (option 3). Our lines are open Monday to Friday 9am - 6pm.

This information is for use by authorised mortgage intermediaries only and should not be relied on by customers.