Help to Buy (HTB) Incentive

SalaKash · 02-02-2017 01:22PM

Hi Folks
Anyone in a situation where contract is signed by us in Nov 2016 and required 10% deposit paid to the Builder however Builder didn't return the signed copy from their side and expected in next week time. I am wondering if we qualify as a retrospective applicant or not? thanks a lot

SalaKash · 02-02-2017 01:22PM

Hi Folks
Anyone in a situation where contract is signed by us in Nov 2016 and required 10% deposit paid to the Builder however Builder didn't return the signed copy from their side and expected in next week time. I am wondering if we qualify as a retrospective applicant or not? thanks a lot

SalaKash · 02-02-2017 01:24PM

ahh sorry for the duplication..my bad due to Browser issue

Irishgirl2020 · 08-02-2017 02:10PM

Hi Ustari, you say that you didn't require a deposit as you had inherited the land. Does this mean that the land you inherited was used as the 10% required to satisfy the central bank rules?

ustari · 08-02-2017 02:21PM

Irishgirl2020 wrote: »

Hi Ustari, you say that you didn't require a deposit as you had inherited the land. Does this mean that the land you inherited was used as the 10% required to satisfy the central bank rules?

Yes with AIB we did not need a deposit. Others still wanted a deposit.

GraceKav · 08-02-2017 10:22PM

Spoke with my solicitor today on this and they were unaware of any role they had to play in the scheme. They are looking into it for me now as I want to make sure that they are certified (if they need to be) to save us switching solicitors at a later date if there are any issues. Complete lack of information out there it seems.

ustari · 09-02-2017 03:12PM

With self build, the builder does not need to be on their "certified" list. The certified list for HTB is for new homes in estates for example.

Abbey14 · 09-02-2017 09:30PM

Hi,

I signed my contract today for a new house that was built by a contractor. Based on what I ready before Xmas I was going to claim back the 5% from the HTB scheme so was happy out until someone pointed out to me that the HTB scheme change as at the 1st of Jan 17.

"Purchasers of a new build after 1 January 2017 – the tax refund will be paid to the qualifying contractor."

Based on this it looks like I should hold back 5% from the amount being paid to the contractor and they should claim themselves. I did not know this. I am not sure what is the story from here as I have transferred the money to my solicitor but asked her not to transfer it over.

We are under pressure to sign but I am not sure of where to go from here. Has anyone else signed contracts in the new year or gone through this process?

Thanks

GraceKav · 09-02-2017 10:39PM

ustari wrote: »

With self build, the builder does not need to be on their "certified" list. The certified list for HTB is for new homes in estates for example.

True but the solicitor does need to be registered. Took the below extract from the revenue.ie website -> "Information for Solicitors
Where a HTB applicant is self-building a new house, his or her solicitor is required to verify the HTB applicant’s claim. Before a solicitor can verify a HTB claim, he or she must first apply to Revenue to be a registered solicitor for the HTB incentive. To be a registered solicitor for verifying HTB claims (from self-builders, only), a solicitor is asked to submit a completed HTB2 Form through MyEnquiries in ROS, as Help to Buy Scheme – Solicitor Approval. A pdfSummary Guide for Solicitors is provided to aid in this process."

My solicitors had no knowledge of this.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/reliefs/htb/index.html

Alfie1607 · 13-02-2017 03:08PM

Hey,
We are in a similar situation as you. Our application for the scheme will only be going through this month. It was our intention to hold back 5% from the deposit as the builder would be receiving this from Revenue. When we went to sign the contract and pay the deposit we were informed that we would have to pay the full 10% deposit to the builder and sort out the HTB Claim afterwards. In my opinion this is rather silly as the idea behind the incentive was to help people with their deposit to buy a house but it we are unable to use it in that manner. Similar to you we have signed the contract but asked our solicitor to hold off sending it to their solicitor until we get more info on the scheme.
I find it all very confusing!

Abbey14 · 13-02-2017 07:20PM

To update... as we are under pressure to sign we have to sign and hand over all the money but the construction company agreed to sign a doc drafted by my solicitor say that they will reimburse.

I still don't believe I should hand over all the money but needs must.. If I hadn't handed in the notice on my apartment I would hold out. I think it has a lot to do with timing on my part.

Alfie1607 · 14-02-2017 12:11PM

Hopefully you won't have to wait too long to be reimbursed. I think we will end up having to do something similar.
Has your builder registered with Revenue yet? Our's hasn't but assured us that he will be.

HcksawJimDuggan · 16-02-2017 03:31PM

Apologies for hijacking the thread but just wondering is the HTB scheme available for self builds completed by direct labour?

mjp · 16-02-2017 04:41PM

HcksawJimDuggan wrote:

Apologies for hijacking the thread but just wondering is the HTB scheme available for self builds completed by direct labour?

Yes. Your solicitor and engineer will sign off on paperwork. Can claim after first stage payment of mortgage is drawn down. Value on house is based on completed house value done by valuer for banks to get mortgage. Your mortgage must then be over 70% LTV ratio.

m1b2k3 · 16-02-2017 05:46PM

Has anyone gotten the rebate on the HTB scheme on a self build at this stage? I applied, for contracts I uploaded the valuation I submitted for my mortgage application and the detailed costings from my engineer, not sure if this is right/wrong?

Keithchap · 13-03-2017 04:43PM

Has anyone added any clauses to their contract around this when buying of a registered contractor?

The contractor building our estate incorrectly thought that this was nothing to do with them and that it was a tax rebate paid directly to the purchaser. However it is clear from the revenue website that this money is actually paid to the contractor as part of the deposit, if the deposit is already fully paid it goes to the mortgage provider. This sounds like something that should be in the contract with the builder, any thoughts?

ustari · 21-03-2017 02:28PM

GraceKav wrote: »

True but the solicitor does need to be registered. Took the below extract from the revenue.ie website -> "Information for Solicitors
Where a HTB applicant is self-building a new house, his or her solicitor is required to verify the HTB applicant’s claim. Before a solicitor can verify a HTB claim, he or she must first apply to Revenue to be a registered solicitor for the HTB incentive. To be a registered solicitor for verifying HTB claims (from self-builders, only), a solicitor is asked to submit a completed HTB2 Form through MyEnquiries in ROS, as Help to Buy Scheme – Solicitor Approval. A pdfSummary Guide for Solicitors is provided to aid in this process."

My solicitors had no knowledge of this.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/reliefs/htb/index.html

Another update on this. Despite being told various different things by revenue, including that we are not applicable as we used our land as a deposit rather than cash, we now have an approved application by revenue. Have to claim now when we make our first draw down shortly.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/can-first-time-buyers-use-land-as-deposit-on-home-to-meet-70-rule-1.2973820

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/who-applies-for-help-to-buy-on-self-build-projects-1.3017674

tobdom · 21-03-2017 02:46PM

Ustari, thank you very much for your post, that 2nd link is golden info for someone (like us) who is self-building. Cheers!

ustari · 18-05-2017 01:27PM

Has anyone who is self building received their money yet from this?

Despite revenue saying we needed to get our builder registered and apply ourselves they are now saying it needs to happen through our solicitor.

Seems like no one in there actually knows the scheme.

tobdom · 18-05-2017 02:48PM

ustari wrote: »

Has anyone who is self building received their money yet from this?

Despite revenue saying we needed to get our builder registered and apply ourselves they are now saying it needs to happen through our solicitor.

Seems like no one in there actually knows the scheme.

I think your builder/contractor still needs to be registered for you to claim, but for a self-build the builder/contractor has nothing to do with the claim process, it goes through your solicitor.

Some good info here: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/who-applies-for-help-to-buy-on-self-build-projects-1.3017674

Per the HTB FAQ on the revenue site, "Self-Builds after 1 January 2017 – the tax refund will be paid to the qualifying loan bank account.". So I guess the Solicitor just verifies everything and signs off on it for revenue

Edit: Just realised Ustari that you were the one who originally posted that Irish Times link, a few posts above..... :-)

18-05-2017 09:58PM

tobdom wrote: »

I think your builder/contractor still needs to be registered for you to claim, but for a self-build the builder/contractor has nothing to do with the claim process, it goes through your solicitor.

Some good info here: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/who-applies-for-help-to-buy-on-self-build-projects-1.3017674

Per the HTB FAQ on the revenue site, "Self-Builds after 1 January 2017 – the tax refund will be paid to the qualifying loan bank account.". So I guess the Solicitor just verifies everything and signs off on it for revenue

What do you do if you are self building and its all individual trades that i have hired ??

Irishgirl2020 · 19-05-2017 08:41AM

From reading the revenue website it says in order to claim you need to submit a copy of the signed contract. This signed contract, I am presuming is with the builder. If that is the case then you can't claim if hiring tradesmen individually. I have queried this with the revenue as I am in the same boat. Awaiting a response from them.

Irishgirl2020 · 19-05-2017 08:56AM

'There is no requirement to use an approved Qualifying Contractor if you are self building' from the revenue website. HTB summary PDF.

ELBAOS · 22-05-2017 11:18PM

Signed contract is your mortgage contract for a self builder

ustari · 25-05-2017 02:43PM

For anyone that has received their relief, into what account was it paid? How did you receive it?

I want to be able to access the money when it is paid back then and there as opposed to it coming off the top of my mortgage and not seeing the up front benefit.

From the summary guide:
"If you are claiming for a self-build property the bank account details of the qualifying loan account
must be provided.
This bank account details must be for an Irish bank account held with your mortgage
institution/lender."

RedRag · 25-05-2017 03:29PM

I'm in a similar boat. Fixed mortgage - the bank say they will penalise me if money goes into the mortgage account. I've paid my deposit, you have to do this in order to draw down the first stage of your self build mortgage. So basically I want this money to fund other aspects of the build.
Revenue will only transfer to the mortgage account. Now I'm waiting confirmation from the bank on how they will transfer the money to me (without penalty). I wonder if anyone has successfully received money from HTB for a self build yet.

ustari · 25-05-2017 04:24PM

It has been a very frustrating experience and we haven't even submitted our claim yet.

Ambiguous language and instructions from people in the revenue office.

MizMix · 27-05-2017 02:38PM

PLus one- extremely frustrating process. We couldn't even apply for months as there was an issue with tax clearance- at one point they said we owed them almost 1k in unpaid tax. After back and forth and them admitting something didn't seem right low and behold they owed it to us! Lots of other stuff including my husbands account saying I hadn't 'validated' when I had etc. So frustrating. We finally have everything in and now they say our solicitor has to validate but to instructions as to how he does it.

My understanding is it will go into our solicitor account and then he transfers to ours but being honest I'm so confused by the whole process. This is one my husband thankfully did the hard work on- when he calls revenue they are really nice but admit they don't even fully understand the process! It's like it's been made intentionally difficult to obtain.

RedRag · 29-05-2017 12:01PM

@MizMix do you know what account/iban your husband supplied to the revenue HTB system? Was it your actual mortgage account or your solicitors account? This is the only detail holding me up at this stage. I hope to be able to submit this application this week. Hopefully it all goes smoothly for you.

m1b2k3 · 29-05-2017 04:06PM

Hi Red Rag, we applied and were approved for the HTB scheme for a self build and we used our own bank account which the revenue paid the payment into. Hope that helps

Help to Buy (HTB) Incentive

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