2017-21 help to buy scheme - megathread. All help to buy discussion here please

The_Conductor

theboringfox wrote: »

ya it is going to go. getting bad press and any positive impact will take too long to measure. it is not fair to give one sub category of buyer a boost anyway. first time buyers of new houses is small % of electorate and it just really annoys a lot of people to see some tax payers get this payout. And theres the potential they are not even benefitting and it just gets added to the price (seller gains). I saw a friend caught in negstive equity with young family trying to move from apartment. For a new house costing 400k he needs 80k deposit and is competing with FTBs who need only 20k in effect!

The fact of the matter is- and its been extremely well documented- houses prices for new builds went up- literally over-night, when the scheme was announced. The RTE 'News at One' did a survey the week after the scheme was announced- and found the HTB assistance was exactly incremented onto house prices overnight- so the only real beneficiary was of course the developers............

Its very hard to justify the scheme as beneficial to First Time Buyers- when there was no net benefit to FTBs- indeed, if you factor the manner in which it only applied to new builds into the equation- it was a pretty bald assed attempt to lob a wad of cash to developers...........

On the brightside- it slowed price inflation in second hand sector- however, the flipside of the coin- is the 700,000 people living in negative equity property- were wholly ignored, and indeed in a worse position than before- as now they had all the bright young things with their wads of taxpayers cash- to contend with as well..........

We need a scheme that incentivises the building of new homes, sufficiently but not inordinantly- without silly house price inflation that suits no-one apart from developers and bankers.

That the current scheme was successfully sold as a First Time Buyers Incentive- is probably up there with the most ironic part of the scheme- the expression about the road to hell being paved with good intentions, comes to mind. Its hard to imagine that the Minister ever had good intentions in mind though- it was a blatant attempt to curry favour in a useful demographic- and I'd be surprised if history didn't record it in this manner.

Alter_Ego

theboringfox wrote: »

ya it is going to go. getting bad press and any positive impact will take too long to measure. it is not fair to give one sub category of buyer a boost anyway. first time buyers of new houses is small % of electorate and it just really annoys a lot of people to see some tax payers get this payout. And theres the potential they are not even benefitting and it just gets added to the price (seller gains). I saw a friend caught in negstive equity with young family trying to move from apartment. For a new house costing 400k he needs 80k deposit and is competing with FTBs who need only 20k in effect!

Even if the seller adds 5% to the price, firstly, FTB's are still bound by the 3.5 salary multiplier, secondly, this means as a FTB you only need to fund 10% of that increase with the deposit. For example house costs 200,000, you need 20,000 deposit. House costs 210,000, you need 21,000 deposit.

Your friend didn't 'get caught' in negative equity. He/she made a stupid decision in the past and now he/she has to pay for it. Shame is I also have to pay for it through USC, so as they say "tough sh*t".

theboringfox

Alter_Ego wrote: »

Even if the seller adds 5% to the price, firstly, FTB's are still bound by the 3.5 salary multiplier, secondly, this means as a FTB you only need to fund 10% of that increase with the deposit. For example house costs 200,000, you need 20,000 deposit. House costs 210,000, you need 21,000 deposit.

Your friend didn't 'get caught' in negative equity. He/she made a stupid decision in the past and now he/she has to pay for it. Shame is I also have to pay for it through USC, so as they say "tough sh*t".

I didn't raise any point on income multiple or affordability. The rule for a deposit is there to ensure there is sufficient equity in house. No reason regulation should be different if first or second time buyer.

I think it's infair to call their decision stupid. I didn't get caught up in it so hard to know but I was only 23. Few years older and I might have been. Easy with crystal ball. Are people stupid also for not buying in 2012 or 2013 at bottom of market by that logic?

If I was benefitting from first time buyer grant I'd think it was great and be delighted to get 5% back. However? I wouldn't think it's fair just because I pay tax. It"s totally unjust and hopefully will soon be gone.

Alter_Ego

theboringfox wrote: »

I didn't raise any point on income multiple or affordability. The rule for a deposit is there to ensure there is sufficient equity in house. No reason regulation should be different if first or second time buyer.

I think it's infair to call their decision stupid. I didn't get caught up in it so hard to know but I was only 23. Few years older and I might have been. Easy with crystal ball. Are people stupid also for not buying in 2012 or 2013 at bottom of market by that logic?

If I was benefitting from first time buyer grant I'd think it was great and be delighted to get 5% back. However? I wouldn't think it's fair just because I pay tax. It"s totally unjust and hopefully will soon be gone.

My point was, it's not only the sellers and developers that gain, FTB's also gain from the scheme and supply of new builds is increasing due to the scheme so the market also gains in general.

You don't need a crystal ball. You just need some common sense before you commit to buying a property. What's the point of buying something you know you are going to outgrow in few years and betting on the market and your salary only ever going up?

Is the scheme unjust? Maybe, but a lot of the second hand buyers already had their chance and they blew it.

dzwx

I don't get it, how hard is to come up with a scheme that will help buyers buy but at the same time won't brig prices up, just don't get it at all, don't think I ever will

Henrys Grimey Paws

We just got approved today, on our application it says your max relief & application max relief.....I assume the application max relief is the important one as it's the total we can claim together or have I read that wrong?

The "Your max relief" looks like it adds up to the total amount of tax I paid in the selected years & doesn't include my fiancee's tax.

dmcg90

Hi all,

Question for you. I've signed my contracts and got a scan of that back from my solicitors. Should I wait until the builder's solicitors sign and return the contracts and scan that into the Revenue system or proceed with the contracts that only I have signed?

Cheers!

TBi

dzwx wrote: »

I don't get it, how hard is to come up with a scheme that will help buyers buy but at the same time won't brig prices up, just don't get it at all, don't think I ever will

They shouldn't have done anything. The market was sorting itself out. If they want to make new houses more affordable then they should have made it cheaper to build houses. Possibly tax incentives for builders.

Tuhula

dmcg90 wrote: »

Hi all,

Question for you. I've signed my contracts and got a scan of that back from my solicitors. Should I wait until the builder's solicitors sign and return the contracts and scan that into the Revenue system or proceed with the contracts that only I have signed?

Cheers!

Hi, you need the builder's solicitor's signatures before you can upload. Contract is only valid once both parties have signed

badbeatcentral

Does anyone know why i need to request a P21 balancing statement before I can submit a HTB application? I'm up to date on my Form 12s but the system is preventing my from progressing without having 'requested' P21s for the last 4 years.

Confused ftb

Which parts of contacts and mortgage documents do I need to upload?

fmagosso

hi everyone,

I have a property abroad which I bought years ago (without any mortgage). Looking at the guidelines in regards to eligibility, it's not clear whether I'm entitled to this grant or not.

Help To Buy FAQs: "The first-time buyer must not have either individually or jointly with any other person (directly or indirectly), previously purchased or built a house or apartment."

It doesn't say whether this relates to Ireland or not. Do you have any other reliable source that can clarify this? My tax advisor (accountant) says we're eligible however my solicitor says I'm not.

Thank you!

Cracker86

fmagosso wrote: »

hi everyone,

I have a property abroad which I bought years ago (without any mortgage). Looking at the guidelines in regards to eligibility, it's not clear whether I'm entitled to this grant or not.



It doesn't say whether this relates to Ireland or not. Do you have any other reliable source that can clarify this? My tax advisor (accountant) says we're eligible however my solicitor says I'm not.

Thank you!

Revenue say that “a first-time buyer must not have either individually or jointly with any other person (directly or indirectly), previously purchased, built or inherited a property.”

So – as you have already bought a house – it looks like you would not be classed as a first time buyer.
You might want to check directly with Revenue yourself for certainty. I would doubt you can avail but definitely worth contacting to find out.

fmagosso

Cracker86 wrote: »

Revenue say that “a first-time buyer must not have either individually or jointly with any other person (directly or indirectly), previously purchased, built or inherited a property.”

So – as you have already bought a house – it looks like you would not be classed as a first time buyer.
You might want to check directly with Revenue yourself for certainty. I would doubt you can avail but definitely worth contacting to find out.

Thanks for this! I'm getting mixed feedback in regards to this. A previous grant from years ago - based on stamp duty - stated clearly that the first-time buyer should have never bought a property in Ireland or abroad. However, this new bill does not mention this particular bit.

I've called the Revenue and the person that I've spoken to wasn't sure. She got in touch with her supervisor and came back saying: "Well, apparently you're not." I felt like even Revenue is not so sure about this and just said no not to over-complicate matters - also, by not refund people's Income Tax that easily.

Thanks again!

gerglack

hi...has anyone got a payment of less than they thought they would get? My my calculations (from p21's) we paid €12.k over past 4 years but htb saying we are entitled to claim €9.5 which I thought was weird!!
Also, our application is stuck at the moment, seemingly it's being looked at by 'the helpdesk'...has this happened to anyone else?

Larsso30

Anyone has any issues with their builder having problems getting registered with revenue? Ours has been having an issue for weeks now and appears to be holding up development too

MrZibi

gerglack wrote: »

Also, our application is stuck at the moment, seemingly it's being looked at by 'the helpdesk'...has this happened to anyone else?

I've tried multiple times and so far I was not able to end up with a successful claim. Rang the revenue office, they suggested to open separate request and they will take a priority and hopefully will get back to me soon.

Error: We're Sorry... Something went wrong and we are having trouble processing your request at this time. Please come back later and try again.

Anyone else is seeing this error?

louser1

Does anyone know if there is any way around the 70% mortgage amount? We can only borrow 68% but would still like to avail of the scheme? Tia

Lumen

louser1 wrote: »

Does anyone know if there is any way around the 70% mortgage amount? We can only borrow 68% but would still like to avail of the scheme? Tia

Negotiate lower sale price with cash for fixtures and fittings?

Jamvik

Hi guys, does anyone know how long it takes for the revenue to pay out the funds to the builder? We submitted our claim, have claim reference number and access code. Do we get any notification once claim is approved and funds paid?

ec18

3/4 days after claim is approved

RootX

Jamvik wrote: »

Hi guys, does anyone know how long it takes for the revenue to pay out the funds to the builder? We submitted our claim, have claim reference number and access code. Do we get any notification once claim is approved and funds paid?

You do get notification saying the claim has been approved, as soon as your builder approves it.
I'm not sure whether a notification is issued when the builder gets the funds from Revenue though, we got the approval notification 2 weeks ago and haven't heard anything further from the builder so I presume he got paid.

Dermotsull13

Hi,
We have just signed contracts this week and want to process our application fully now.
Do we scan and upload the entire contract or is it just the pages that have been signed by all parties?
Thanks

metricspaces

I've read a few posts where people who have signed contracts from January onward are being told by builders that they must claim back after closing on sale. Has anyone done this?

As Revenue pay directly to the builder for any contracts signed from January onward the buyer would be relying on the builder paying back the 5%.

I'm wondering if anyone has discussed this situation with Revenue and managed to get Revenue pay 5% directly to them rather than to the builder?

ec18

metricspaces wrote: »

I've read a few posts where people who have signed contracts from January onward are being told by builders that they must claim back after closing on sale. Has anyone done this?

As Revenue pay directly to the builder for any contracts signed from January onward the buyer would be relying on the builder paying back the 5%.

I'm wondering if anyone has discussed this situation with Revenue and managed to get Revenue pay 5% directly to them rather than to the builder?

Had the same thing from our builder, solicitor told their solicitor the way it needs to work to them and then they followed revenue process

fret_wimp2

ec18 wrote: »

Had the same thing from our builder, solicitor told their solicitor the way it needs to work to them and then they followed revenue process

Thsts the process. It changed in Jan. Before Jan the money was paid into the buyers account.
After Jan it's paid to the developer, and deducted from the final price.

Thsts how it worked for us 2 months ago and it was smooth sailing, zero hiccups.

I wouldn't worry about the saving not being deducted from the price, revenue are one of the few depts that function efficiently, any developer that didnt deduct it from the final price would quickly be in hot water.

Ray37

Hope this is the right place to ask, sorry if its not! I can't seem to find the answer online, does anyone know if a first time buyers mortgage can include extra to cover furnishing a home? Thank you

Michael D Not Higgins

Ray37 wrote: »

Hope this is the right place to ask, sorry if its not! I can't seem to find the answer online, does anyone know if a first time buyers mortgage can include extra to cover furnishing a home? Thank you

No, the mortgage only covers the house. You may apply for a separate loan following the mortgage to cover furnishing the house, this will be at a higher rate and for a shorter term.

theboringfox

http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/government-to-axe-helptobuy-scheme-for-first-time-buyers-35837674.html

theboringfox

theboringfox wrote: »

http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/government-to-axe-helptobuy-scheme-for-first-time-buyers-35837674.html

This looks to be getting scrapped shortly. Can anybody that is a self builder tell me how long it took to get the grant from revenue once they did there first mortgage drawdown ??