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

autumnbelle

*FireCracker* wrote: »

Access code is sent to you separately via My Enquiries.

It's not viewable with the main application.

Have you checked for it there?

This exact thing is happening to us, did you get the access code in the end?

autumnbelle

autumnbelle wrote: »

Hi do any of you know the difference between your max relief available and application max relief please?
Also for self builds how does claiming the figure work

Anybody?

allym

autumnbelle wrote: »

Anybody?

Not 100% sure but max relief available is the max you’re entitled to. I imagine the other figure depends on when you make your application as it’s the max your entitled to or 5% of the purchase price whichever is the lower.

Edit: or are you applying with someone else? I know I have two figures on mine, what I’m entitled to and what the total application is entitled to

I’ve no idea about self build claiming but there’s been a lot of info on this thread so I’m sure it’s there somewhere.

autumnbelle

allym wrote: »

Not 100% sure but max relief available is the max you’re entitled to. I imagine the other figure depends on when you make your application as it’s the max your entitled to or 5% of the purchase price whichever is the lower.

Edit: or are you applying with someone else? I know I have two figures on mine, what I’m entitled to and what the total application is entitled to

I’ve no idea about self build claiming but there’s been a lot of info on this thread so I’m sure it’s there somewhere.

I am applying with my husband so would we be entitled to the total application

sarah88

autumnbelle wrote: »

I am applying with my husband so would we be entitled to the total application

As far as I know It's 5% of your mortgage amount. Eg. €10,000 on a €200,000 mortgage. I assume if your approved for a certain amount by revenue Eg €20,000 you cannot claim any more than this.

Toastytoes

sarah88 wrote: »

As far as I know It's 5% of your mortgage amount. Eg. €10,000 on a €200,000 mortgage. I assume if your approved for a certain amount by revenue Eg €20,000 you cannot claim any more than this.

It not, it’s based on 5% of house price up to the cut off, not the mortgage amount. Max lesser of €20k or however much tax you’ve actually paid in the relevant tax years.

danjomurray

*FireCracker* wrote: »

danjomurray wrote: »

Hoping someone can help me out here and sorry if its been asked 400 times, its a long thread and I read about 20 pages before I just decided to post.

Myself and my girlfriend have gone sale agreed on a house (yay!). We're trying to do the HTB scheme and revenue have been as useful as a glass hammer when we called.

We have an application code but no access code. On my GF's ROS it shows both of us, on my ROS it shows that I have applied by my GF hasn't confirmed membership of the group.

From what I understand the latter part of that isn't a problem, but if we have an application code should we also have an access code to give the builder and/or our solicitor? How long does it take to get the access code so you can move on to phase 2?

Sorry if this is a basic or stupid question, my head is melted with mortgage craic at this stage. Appreciate any help.

Access code is sent to you separately via My Enquiries.

It's not viewable with the main application.

Have you checked for it there?

Yea, I've checked back a few times - not sure how long it normally takes but we only put the application in last Monday

Werty00

Hello,

I have applied for the HTB scheme, and the max available to me is 16000 euro. As a new-build, the house won't be ready until August, allowing me an extra few months to save. To avail of the 16k, my LTV has to be more than 70% of the mortgage. With the extra months savings, I won't need such a high LTV. I am wondering if I should still avail of the HTB and use this 16k as a furnishing fund etc, or should I forego the HTB in order to get a lower LTV? If I forego the HTB my LTV could drop as low as 58%. Any advice welcome!

JC1888

Hi Everyone,
This might be a silly question but we are currently getting ready to sign contracts on our new build. The solicitor has been on to say we will need the full 10% to sign but it was my understanding that the htb cover 5%. So if we pay the full 10% on the day we sign then what happens with the 5% htb money?

MSVforever

JC1888 wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
This might be a silly question but we are currently getting ready to sign contracts on our new build. The solicitor has been on to say we will need the full 10% to sign but it was my understanding that the htb cover 5%. So if we pay the full 10% on the day we sign then what happens with the 5% htb money?

It depends on the developer I guess. We were told by our estate agent that we have to pay the 5% only (minus the booking deposit ). The other 5% will be claimed via HTB scheme.

GingerLily

Werty00 wrote: »

Hello,

I have applied for the HTB scheme, and the max available to me is 16000 euro. As a new-build, the house won't be ready until August, allowing me an extra few months to save. To avail of the 16k, my LTV has to be more than 70% of the mortgage. With the extra months savings, I won't need such a high LTV. I am wondering if I should still avail of the HTB and use this 16k as a furnishing fund etc, or should I forego the HTB in order to get a lower LTV? If I forego the HTB my LTV could drop as low as 58%. Any advice welcome!

I would use the HTB, and use your savings to pay off your mortgage sooner. Fix 70% of your mortgage and keep 30% variable so you can over pay with your extra cash (or change those %s if you want).
Double check with revenue if you have to keep your LTV over 70% for a certain length of time, or just at drawdown.

CramCycle

conf101 wrote: »

Don't you have to upload your loan offer to get the rebate?

I don't know if Revenue have a way of checking on it, but I would assume uploading a loan offer that's different to the mortgage you're taking out on the property would invalidate your claim and is probably fraud.

+1

autumnbelle wrote: »

Hi do any of you know the difference between your max relief available and application max relief please?
Also for self builds how does claiming the figure work

The first is what you can get based on revenue records, the latter is the max you can get on the house you have submitted.

GingerLily wrote: »

Double check with revenue if you have to keep your LTV over 70% for a certain length of time, or just at drawdown.

I would check with the mortgage provider as well, do a lump sum repayment as soon as you can and have your LTV reassessed ASAP

Eveamae

Do anyone know about the clawback of help to buy scheme? What if you took out a 70% LTV and the payback of loan will reduce LTV? Will this impact HTB?

Daniogroove

Eveamae wrote: »

Do anyone know about the clawback of help to buy scheme? What if you took out a 70% LTV and the payback of loan will reduce LTV? Will this impact HTB?

The refund wouldn't affect your LTV. It's up to you what you do the money. If you're self building it's yours to spend how you like and goes to developer if you're buying. Sure you could just choose a variable rate and pay it off the mortgage straight away but that's up to you. Most people use it for their furnishings as it's not an easy chunk of money to comeby.

podgemonster

Hi All,

I guess this may have asked a hundred times but my head is just fried and would appreciate some sound advice.

We put a 5K deposit an a new build due for completion in Apr 2019.
Value of Property is €340K

We are approved for the full HTB grant but 5% of the property is €17K.

We received the contracts last week and were told that the developer would not be accepted the Help to Buy grant as part of the 10% deposit. There are looking for the remaining 29K to complete the deal. We assumed it would be (17K plus the remaining 12K from our savings)

I was under the impression this scheme was to assist first time buyers finance this 10% deposit. To pay this now would leave us with our heads just above water. Our loan approval now will be long expired by Apr 2019.

The estate agents assured us this was the case and the HTP was part of the deposit, their word I'd imagine isn't worth much. Our solicitor has essentially shrugged his shoulders saying take it or leave.

Just wondering if any of you had similar experiences?

randomnumber1

podgemonster wrote: »

Hi All,

I guess this may have asked a hundred times but my head is just fried and would appreciate some sound advice.

We put a 5K deposit an a new build due for completion in Apr 2019.
Value of Property is €340K

We are approved for the full HTB grant but 5% of the property is €17K.

We received the contracts last week and were told that the developer would not be accepted the Help to Buy grant as part of the 10% deposit. There are looking for the remaining 29K to complete the deal. We assumed it would be (17K plus the remaining 12K from our savings)

I was under the impression this scheme was to assist first time buyers finance this 10% deposit. To pay this now would leave us with our heads just above water. Our loan approval now will be long expired by Apr 2019.

The estate agents assured us this was the case and the HTP was part of the deposit, their word I'd imagine isn't worth much. Our solicitor has essentially shrugged his shoulders saying take it or leave.

Just wondering if any of you had similar experiences?

I’m considering buying in the next year and had fully intended on buying in the same manner as you....5% savings and 5% HTB and like you I was under the impression that this was acceptable so this has me worried.

Is the developer on revenues approved list for the HTB?

https://www.revenue.ie/en/property/documents/htb-qualifying-contractors.pdf

Daniogroove

podgemonster wrote: »

Hi All,

I guess this may have asked a hundred times but my head is just fried and would appreciate some sound advice.

We put a 5K deposit an a new build due for completion in Apr 2019.
Value of Property is €340K

We are approved for the full HTB grant but 5% of the property is €17K.

We received the contracts last week and were told that the developer would not be accepted the Help to Buy grant as part of the 10% deposit. There are looking for the remaining 29K to complete the deal. We assumed it would be (17K plus the remaining 12K from our savings)

I was under the impression this scheme was to assist first time buyers finance this 10% deposit. To pay this now would leave us with our heads just above water. Our loan approval now will be long expired by Apr 2019.

The estate agents assured us this was the case and the HTP was part of the deposit, their word I'd imagine isn't worth much. Our solicitor has essentially shrugged his shoulders saying take it or leave.

Just wondering if any of you had similar experiences?

Did the real estate agent tell you rhe developer was registered ir registering for the htb?

If they are registered then they should accept it or just not sell to you at all if they wish.
If they aren't registered or getting it done then i wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. It's very simple for them to do as long as they're tax compliant.

Your best bet is to go on site, ask around who tge developer is and get s number. Make a direct meeting. You'll get much further that way. (I did).

Also, your solicitor sounds clueless. Hardly the person you want handling something so important.

izzyflusky

Have you looked for a thread here or a facebook group from the development? Talking to other buyers might help because chanced are others have gone through the same thing.

podgemonster

The developer is registered with the HTB scheme. In fact the development was v.much advertised by the estate agent that these properties were under the HTB scheme. They verbally confirmed to us what we assumed would be how the process would work with the HTB being part of our deposit.

The developer solicitors have insisted we pay the remainder of the 10% deposit and sign within 7 days or they will release the property. I feel very much that they are putting a gun to our heads here out of nowhere.

JC1888

podgemonster wrote: »

The developer is registered with the HTB scheme. In fact the development was v.much advertised by the estate agent that these properties were under the HTB scheme. They verbally confirmed to us what we assumed would be how the process would work with the HTB being part of our deposit.

The developer solicitors have insisted we pay the remainder of the 10% deposit and sign within 7 days or they will release the property. I feel very much that they are putting a gun to our heads here out of nowhere.

I had the same question and was told by SF that it is up to the builder and they can either take it off at the start or at end. All depends on what they to do. Doesn’t make any sence as it is to help with the 10%. Good luck

Daniogroove

podgemonster wrote: »

The developer is registered with the HTB scheme. In fact the development was v.much advertised by the estate agent that these properties were under the HTB scheme. They verbally confirmed to us what we assumed would be how the process would work with the HTB being part of our deposit.

The developer solicitors have insisted we pay the remainder of the 10% deposit and sign within 7 days or they will release the property. I feel very much that they are putting a gun to our heads here out of nowhere.

Have you got your application approved for the htb yet? ( i assume you got approved for 20000)

If you have, just go onto revenue and start the claim application for the house you're buying. It'll be approved in a few days (less than 7), then tell your solicitor to have some balls and tell the developer you've done your end and technically paid. All the developer has to do is login to ROS and verify the details. They get the money in 5 working days.

I think what's happened here is the developer's solicitor hasn't a notion of how the htb works and don't want to go through it. You can see from this thread how uninformed they are.

If nothing else it's false advertising if they're saying they accept it and then refuse too. Get your solicitor to mention that and see how it goes.

d0157063

I dont think the above is entirely correct. For H2B, there are 2 steps
1) H2B Eligibility - this is single or joint application. Once all ok, you receive access codes and max amount info. This holds as proof that you will receive the max amount from Revenue. This is usually shared to Bank, Estate agent and Solicitor. In ideal scenarios, you pay the deposit - H2B amount and sign the contracts 
2) Once contracts are signed by developers, then your solicitor will email the fully signed copy. This needs to be uploaded (usually PDF) to Revenue to claim the amount. This usually takes 5-7 working days. Once all ok, then developer can login to Revenue to claim the amount
Doesn't look the same to me from above as developer not willing to sign the contract till full deposit money is received. Also to highlight this is very strange for someone already registered on the Revenue for H2B. They should be very well aware of the protocol.  Solicitor should play an IMP role here to discuss this points firmly, With current market situation, developer will always find another buyer, not true otherwise - hence they should go easy. Hope it helps.

GingerLily

I paid my full 10% deposit and used the HTB for the remainder when I drewdown my mortgage.

I am curious though how legal it is to not allow FTB to use the HTB as part of their deposit, I would have thought that would be a part of the deal, after all developers are able to charge more because of this.

Could you ring revenue and query this?

podgemonster

So yes we have the HTP applications completed and are approved for the full 20K. We are claiming 17K. We have an application code and access code and had our solicitor issue these codes to the developers solicitor.

In order for us to proceed to allow the developer to claim the HTB we need to upload the signed contracts and a scan of our Mortgage Letter of Offer. Of course we can't sign as the developer wants the 10% payment now.

We're currently ringing revenue today and will be contacting my solicitor to instil our necessity of using the HTB at this phase. I'll update here when we know more. Some stellar advice thus far I must say. Thank you.

Mantis Toboggan

We had the same problem with Ballymore properties.

Their argument was that if we pulled out of the sale after paying the deposit they would have to return the money to revenue whereas if we pay cash they'll keep the deposit.

Solicitors said there was nothing they could do and Ballymore threatened to pull out of the sale and offer the house to another client.

Luckily we could just about cover the deposit in cash but as they were an "approved contractor" I did report them to revenue to make them aware of it. The whole idea of the help to buy was to provide a deposit for a house and quite clearly that was not the case.

danjomurray

I think I had the HTB the total wrong way... does the money from revenue go to the builder/developer, or to you? if it goes to the developer, surely you shouldn't have to pay the full 10% deposit as the revenue covers half?

Sorry, I've probably missed something real obvious but I'm now trying to figure out am I getting the money or is the developer? Was kind of planning on using the excess money to furnish the house and buy appliances etc.

Mantis Toboggan

danjomurray wrote: »

I think I had the HTB the total wrong way... does the money from revenue go to the builder/developer, or to you? if it goes to the developer, surely you shouldn't have to pay the full 10% deposit as the revenue covers half?

Sorry, I've probably missed something real obvious but I'm now trying to figure out am I getting the money or is the developer? Was kind of planning on using the excess money to furnish the house and buy appliances etc.

The HTB goes direct to the developer.

podgemonster

danjomurray wrote: »

I think I had the HTB the total wrong way... does the money from revenue go to the builder/developer, or to you? if it goes to the developer, surely you shouldn't have to pay the full 10% deposit as the revenue covers half?

I think you can buy a new completed home and claim it afterwards yourself into your account but I doubt there's many first time buyers go that route. The grant is needed at the start of the process not when your living in the gaff.

Revenue will allow access for a developer to claim from your grant (if they are on the approved HTB list) and then the developer can credit the buyer with a reduction of 5% of the value of the property. What we assumed was we would get this 5% credit at the contract stage and like you suggest we would have remaining funds to place deposits on appliances and furnishings.

Update: We've spoken to Revenue. Very friendly however they said they are aware that some developers are doing this and while it is not how the grant is intended to be used there's nothing they can do about it and cannot get involved.

We've spoken to our solicitor and going to propose that the contract be amended to state that on signing of contracts all agreements are non-binding until the developer can draw down the grant.

podgemonster

Update: No Joy.

Their solicitors took over a week to reply and just said "No our condition still stands". They'll simply credit the HTB off the final cost. They've also kindly given us 4 workings days to sign and issue a cheque or they will release the property.

Our solicitor says their carry on is deplorable but there's very little he can do as revenue cannot insist they use it at the deposit stage and given the market they can be as bullish as they want.

autumnbelle

podgemonster wrote: »

Update: No Joy.

Their solicitors took over a week to reply and just said "No our condition still stands". They'll simply credit the HTB off the final cost. They've also kindly given us 4 workings days to sign and issue a cheque or they will release the property.

Our solicitor says their carry on is deplorable but there's very little he can do as revenue cannot insist they use it at the deposit stage and given the market they can be as bullish as they want.

Completely unfair