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

It’s max 30k per application. As a couple you can use your best 4 tax years to apply and not of you must be deemed first time buyers. Unfortunately it’s not per person and there are limits on the LTV (loan to value) of the property (70%) and there’s a max purchase price too.

more info here https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/owning_a_home/help_with_buying_a_home/help_to_buy_incentive.html

Hi Folks,

A couple of questions on the HTB scheme:

1. Do people think it will extend beyond December 2022?
2. It says you need to apply for a mortgage that is 70% of the purchase price. If for example, the house was 400,000 and you had combined savings of 150,000 so only needed a mortage of 250,000 but 70% of 400,000 is 280,000, can you still apply for a mortgage of 280,000 and just 120,000 of savings instead of the full 150,000 you have?
3. Is there any reason why it only applies to purchases of new houses/self builds and not second-hand houses?

Thanks

I am a PAYE worker but thelast couple of years I had some non-PAYE income from some discounted share purchases, so I needed to fill out a Form 11.

So I think, I may be classified as self assessed rather than PAYE now.

I went into ROS and clicked on Manage Tax Clearance but not sure what reason to use as to why applying for tax clearance, none seem to relate to for HTB. Any idea which option to pick?

Thanks

After how many days of HTB verification, builder gets the funds. Builder has suggested to release completion notice only after the HTB funds are received.

Hi Guys,

Really hoping someone here has some insight for us!

Like most people we’ve been saving hard for years to afford a house, we recently found one. The house we are buying is a one off in the country, we don’t know when it was initially Built but it was repossessed by the banks and sold at auction in 2018, the house was never finished, it does not have internal doors, floors, sanitary ware or a kitchen. It is not habitable as it stands.

We are approved for the HTB for 20k, the purchase price of the house is 200k and we would then need to finish off the internal works. We have savings which we were planning to use to finish the house of around 20k. All in to purchase and complete works the cost would be approx. 230k, which we can manage if HTB applies.

We recently contacted revenue and everyone we speak with gives us a different answer, one person told us we could use the “Self build” option yet another told us that the house was too far along?!

Has anyone here had a similar experience?

Any advice would be hugely helpful as we are now under pressure from the vendor to progress.

The HTB team are the only ones able to give you a definitive answer on an application. The ONLY way to contact them directly is through My Enquiries when logged into MyAccount. They answer the My Enquiries in date rotation.

When you ring the PAYE Helpline you get to speak to a caseworker who has minimum training in HTB, and that caseworker has no direct way of contacting the HTB team to get an answer for you, that’s why you are getting different answers depending on the caseworkers experience.

It’s ridicules that there is no HTB helpline to be able to call directly given the stress that goes hand in hand with the securing of funds to enable one to proceed with the purchase/building of one’s home.

I only have a 10% deposit, the rest is coming from the new First Home Scheme announced yesterday. I've a fairly modest mortgage approval as well. I'm in no way wealthy or have a large deposit to buy a home.

At what point do you click the claim button on MyAccount for the HTB?

We've paid booking deposit and are going ahead with loan approval. Contracts won't issue for a couple of weeks. Do we click claim now or what stage do we claim?

If I apply for Help To Buy today, do I get back 4 years of tax that I paid up until today, or until the end of last year?

Thanks.

Thanks NHG.

The Revenue guidance says that once contracts are signed pre Dec 2022 you're eligible - in all likelihood you'll submit the claim shortly after contracts are signed so the builder should already have the funds from Revenue in 2022

The bank is looking for evidence of my HTB approval but have said that my name must be included on the document I submit. But when you log into myaccount and view the claim, it has the application code, maximum relief amount awarded and the expiry date - but it doesn't mention my name anywhere. Has anyone else been asked for their name to be included on the document they submit?

Any chance you heard back on this yet? We submitted on the 11th and are seeing the same message, wondering if anything needs a follow-up from our end or if they're just slow...

Unfortunately not. I queried this with revenue before. Your mortgage must be at least 70% LTV. The FHS isn't considered a mortgage.