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

szczena · 28-07-2017 7:29pm

Graham wrote: »

How far down the road are you with this solicitor?

Really sorry Graham, what you mean in that sentence?

awec · 28-07-2017 8:40pm

It seems odd that a solicitor working in the property market wouldn't have a detailed understanding of the HTB scheme.

szczena · 28-07-2017 8:51pm

awec wrote: »

It seems odd that a solicitor working in the property market wouldn't have a detailed understanding of the HTB scheme.

I spoke to revenue, they didn't know really what I should do now. For them the best would be if I apply as a group and have a contract with both names. As I mentioned I reapplied as a group now and sent the contract with my sole name only. Do I have to send the details ( claim number and a pin to vendor again?) as per contract I should claim my HTB within 5 days after signing contract but It was 2 months already. After signing contract I applied for a new mortgage with joint names, didn't claimed HTB with my sole name. Wanted to have a wife on the mortgage too. (Without that the house could be only with my sole name on the deeds)

I know that I can't sell the house or rent for 5 years if I go for HTB but can I transfer seeds to my wife name after purchase? Without loosing HTB? I could apply again for HTB with sole name and send contract with sole name and after purchase transfer names???

Graham · 28-07-2017 9:21pm

I'd go back to your solicitor and ask that he goes and investigate fully.

Either that or I'd be looking for a new solicitor.

markmonrow · 30-07-2017 10:51pm

Hopefully someone in here can help. Please.

Have filled in all the appropriate online stuff with the revenue and received a claim no that was passed onto both solicitors. I received a mail from our solicitor saying I had filled in the property address wrong and the deposit paid wrong as well ( I was off a night shift is my excuse).I cancelled our claim and put in the correct info but the claim no I received at the end is the same as the original one. Is this normal? The solicitor has just got back to me saying the information is still incorrect. Are they seeing the same claim no and assuming I didn't change anything or do I need to start the whole process from the beginning? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated .

cunnifferous · 03-08-2017 10:22pm

Applying for this soon. I haven't paid the full 20k in tax in the last 4 years (Recent graduate) but between me and my partner we should get there.

Do we both apply for the scheme or can I somehow indicate in my application that we are buying together and she will get her tax refunded as well?

ams · 04-08-2017 12:01pm

Yeah you apply as a group with both your PPS numbers!

Jonathan _L · 06-08-2017 1:01pm

Hi guys - apologies for the stupid question. I'm saving for a deposit and looking to get on HTB Supposing a house is worth €400k and I have 20+ saved - is it the case that I can go for mortgage and HTB approval now with th expectation that I will be given the HTB by revenue to contribute the shortfall, or isnit the case that I still need 40k up front and I get HTB back after all is said and done.

I presume it's the first as the entire point of this is to help people save for the deposit amount...

Also going for a mortgage and detailing my deposit do I need to have FTB in place first to show the bank or is desposit not relevant for mortgage approval and loan amount?

happycoolrains · 07-08-2017 11:44am

Hi Jonathan,

As far as I understood, hbt payment goes to the builder directly, so you would need to pay the balance of the down payment.

Also do consider stamp duty, solicitor fees and legal fees into consideration as that also goes around 5-6000 for a 400 k.

Thanks,
Rains

(quote="Jonathan _L;104296799"]Hi guys - apologies for the stupid question. I'm saving for a deposit and looking to get on HTB Supposing a house is worth €400k and I have 20+ saved - is it the case that I can go for mortgage and HTB approval now with th expectation that I will be given the HTB by revenue to contribute the shortfall, or isnit the case that I still need 40k up front and I get HTB back after all is said and done.

I presume it's the first as the entire point of this is to help people save for the deposit amount...

Also going for a mortgage and detailing my deposit do I need to have FTB in place first to show the bank or is desposit not relevant for mortgage approval and loan amount?[/quote]

ams · 08-08-2017 10:17am

Hi re the HTB although its supposed to help you with the deposit however some builders look for the full deposit before you input your claim.

We are currently in this situation at the moment - the solicitor will draw down the full mortgage amount and pay us the 20k back at the end.

Its a bit frustrating as it seems to go against what the scheme is about.

Edit - my solicitor just said she paid the net amount to the vendors solicitor and to ignore what it says in the deposit letter so hopefully all ok

leonffrench · 08-08-2017 10:08pm

Hi all wondering if anyone can help me. I am trying to apply for the scheme. I have submitted the form 12's for previous 4 years and have been used p21 for each year. Yet when I try to apply it won't let me as it says I haven't been issued tax clearance certificate. I am PAYE. Also trying to add my partner but we can't seem to link up on the system. Says she needs to accept being on my application but no option for her to do this. Any help is appreciated if anyone has had the same issues. That online system isn't great in fairness

awec · 08-08-2017 10:43pm

leonffrench wrote: »

Hi all wondering if anyone can help me. I am trying to apply for the scheme. I have submitted the form 12's for previous 4 years and have been used p21 for each year. Yet when I try to apply it won't let me as it says I haven't been issued tax clearance certificate. I am PAYE. Also trying to add my partner but we can't seem to link up on the system. Says she needs to accept being on my application but no option for her to do this. Any help is appreciated if anyone has had the same issues. That online system isn't great in fairness

Did you get married recently?

leonffrench · 09-08-2017 8:33am

awec wrote:

Did you get married recently?

No we are both "single" and are both PAYE

awec · 09-08-2017 10:08am

This happened us because we changed marital status which meant we had to register the marriage with revenue (government departments aren't smart enough to share this information it seems) and that meant they had to do some manual work on their end. Took about 2 weeks if I remember right.

I suspect your case is similar, something about either one of you has been flagged and they have to investigate it. If you ring revenue they should be able to tell you what the story is.

Also, they might try and tell you that you haven't submitted your form 12s. If the website says you have then tell them that, as you said their site is a bit dodgy.

carleigh · 09-08-2017 10:35am

leonffrench wrote: »

No we are both "single" and are both PAYE

You should give Revenue a call. There could be an underlying underpayment from one of the years you have selected. Even if it is €1 this would have to be paid. As you are not jointly assessed, if the problem is on your partners side, the specifics cannot be shared with you and your partner will have to contact Revenue. Calling them is the quickest way to get it sorted. They are very halpful when you call and will try find the quickest solution.

leonffrench · 09-08-2017 10:42am

Thanks for your help I really appreciate it. I will give them a call see what they say. Thanks again

Edit. Called them and got sorted and got approved!! Thanks again guys

drugdeel · 14-08-2017 4:09pm

hi all,
is there any exceptions for HTB if LTV is lower than 70%, cause i maxing my mortgage, and current LTV is around 66%

Confused ftb · 14-08-2017 7:07pm

When submitting the information for claim they ask for mortgage loan application number, is this the same as reference number?

I just received the claim reference number, is that all I need or do I need to wait for more? Wasn't expecting it to be so quick.

Daniogroove · 15-08-2017 1:31pm

Can anyone clarify if the relief is half of your legally required 10% (5% obviously) deposit or for instance if i'm putting in 14% is it half of that or 5% of the total cost or 5% of the mortage value?

I've heard contradicting answers from the revenue and the fianancial advisor. This scheme is a disaster for clarity.

awec · 15-08-2017 1:32pm

Daniogroove wrote: »

Can anyone clarify if the relief is half of your legally required 10% (5% obviously) deposit or for instance if i'm putting in 14% is it half of that or 5% of the total cost or 5% of the mortage value?

I'll heard contradicting answers from the revenue and the fianancial advisor. This scheme is a disaster for clarity.

It is up to 5% of the purchase price of the house or €20,000, whichever is lower, provided you have paid at least this amount in eligible taxes.

Shelldrake · 15-08-2017 5:52pm

drugdeel wrote: »

hi all,
is there any exceptions for HTB if LTV is lower than 70%, cause i maxing my mortgage, and current LTV is around 66%

I don't believe there is any exceptions in the HTB allowing for <70% LTV ratio. As it is Simon Conveny reduced the LTV from 80% to 70% in an effort to reduce the number of people over-borrowing just to get the rebate.

Shelldrake · 15-08-2017 6:07pm

Confused ftb wrote: »

When submitting the information for claim they ask for mortgage loan application number, is this the same as reference number?

I just received the claim reference number, is that all I need or do I need to wait for more? Wasn't expecting it to be so quick.

When we submitted our claim we entered the reference number on the loan offer letter from our bank and that was acceptable. The claim reference number is just confirming your claim has been submitted in full to ROS.

You should now send your solicitor your a claim reference number and your access code. Your solicitor will send this info on to the developers solicitors and as far I know they will check that you have how much a tax rebate you are entitled to from Revenue and that you have your financial approval in place.

The access / claim numbers can be found under "My Enquiries"

Shelldrake · 15-08-2017 8:40pm

Hi All,

I'm very new to boards as a contributor but have been pouring over HTB posts for the last new months while we went through our own application. Thankfully our claim was approved recently which is a weight off our minds.

I thought I would share our experience and limited knowledge of the claims process from our perspective:

1) We had to educate ourselves on the help to buy scheme process as our solicitor was not aware of scheme or how it worked. Our solicitor came highly recommended and having gotten to contracts stage with a different developer we saw how good he was at his job. Nevertheless we were still very disappointed he didn't have a in-depth knowledge of the scheme as I felt at times he should be paying me with the amount of advise I was giving him on the scheme.

2) The HTB tax rebate does go towards your 10% deposit. I have seen multiple posts and even had my solicitor telling me otherwise. All you should be paying is your booking deposit (usually around €5k) and 5% of the value of your home. The other 5% is covered by Revenue in the form a tax rebate paid directly to the developer.

Example*:
House Price: €300,000
Booking Deposit: €5,000
10% deposit on signing contracts: €30,000
You pay €15,000 and the HTB pays €15,000 (total of €30k)

Your total expenditure is now €20k but the developer should have received a total of €35k.

This is assuming you entitled to full 5% tax rebate. You should not be in a position where you are asked to pay the full 10% deposit (€30k) and the developer is paid your tax rebate also (€15k).

3) The documentation which we uploaded to Revenue was:
a) Loan offer letter from mortgage provider
b) Signed contracts.

4) Loan Offer: In our situation we are buying a new build with a completion date approx 10 months from now. As a result our mortgage approval will expire (only lasts 6 months) as we will not be drawing down the first tranche of our mortgage until mid-late 2018. In our situation this did not negatively impact our claim.

5) Signed Contracts: We signed contracts which were witnessed by our solicitor. Our solicitor then sent them to the developers solicitors requesting they in turn sign and email a scanned copy back to him. He then emailed this to us and we uploaded them to ROS. I have heard it is also acceptable to upload contracts signed by you, witnessed by your solicitor but not signed by the developer.

6) We applied for and were offered an 80% LTV. We only intend to draw down 70% which is minimum amount allowed by the HTB scheme. Be cautious of this if you have strong savings as if you dip below the 70% LTV you will not be eligible for the tax rebate.

7) We opened our application in January but were slow with our claim at the beginning as we waited for P60s from multiple employers and our E12 to be processed. Once we had our tax affairs in order our application took 3 months end to end. It took a month from submitting all documentation to ROS until it was approved (this includes the two weeks for builders holidays which delayed the process) Although we had already sent the relevant codes to the developer's solicitor, they requested them again. It took 5 days from when we sent codes to when it was approved in ROS.

The process is relatively easy but at times can seem illogical. For example why would you sign contracts with the developer if you do not know if the HTB has been approved yet. This could be deciding factor for you in choosing a smaller home. This isn't helped by the fact a lot of solicitors are not familiar with the scheme and can't give good advise.

We were also eager to sign contracts and upload docs to ROS as at the time rumors were rife the housing minister was going to cut the scheme without notice. It was a risk but for us an acceptable one, as we already knew we were eligible for the maximum tax rebate and had received our load offer. It was the amount of time it took to process the documents which made it uncomfortable.

I hopes this helps!!

beazee · 16-08-2017 10:41am

Shelldrake wrote: »

Example*:
House Price: €300,000
Booking Deposit: €5,000
10% deposit on signing contracts: €30,000
You pay €15,000 and the HTB pays €15,000 (total of €30k)

Your total expenditure is now €20k but the developer should have received a total of €35k.

Slightly different maths for the developer we are dealing with.

House Price: €200k
Booking Deposit: €5k
10% deposit on signing contracts: €20k
You pay €10k (less €5k paid earlier) and the HTB pays €10k (total of €20k)

Your total expenditure is now €10k but the developer should have received a total of €20k.

beazee · 16-08-2017 7:06pm

"Does this mean my deposit will be smaller?

Yes. The tax rebate will be taken into consideration when calculating your deposit. The tax rebate will be paid to the vendor once it’s approved by the Revenue and you’ll then pay them the balance of the mortgage deposit to secure the house."

https://www.ebs.ie/blog/2016/12/16-things-about-the-help-to-buy-scheme

Essien · 17-08-2017 9:58am

What's the latest on when this will be scrapped. If I were to buy in Jan/Feb 2018 is it likely that the HTB will still be available to me?

beazee · 17-08-2017 10:23am

Essien wrote: »

If I were to buy in Jan/Feb 2018 is it likely that the HTB will still be available to me?

Seems that we all have to wait until the Budget announcement in October.

According to the auctioneer, I spoke to, the scheme will most likely be abolished with the end of December 2017.

Should that was the case, I reckon, once you have the contract signed in or before December 2017 - you'll be fine.

Jeffy17 · 17-08-2017 11:51am

Shelldrake wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm very new to boards as a contributor but have been pouring over HTB posts for the last new months while we went through our own application. Thankfully our claim was approved recently which is a weight off our minds.

I thought I would share our experience and limited knowledge of the claims process from our perspective:

1) We had to educate ourselves on the help to buy scheme process as our solicitor was not aware of scheme or how it worked. Our solicitor came highly recommended and having gotten to contracts stage with a different developer we saw how good he was at his job. Nevertheless we were still very disappointed he didn't have a in-depth knowledge of the scheme as I felt at times he should be paying me with the amount of advise I was giving him on the scheme.

2) The HTB tax rebate does go towards your 10% deposit. I have seen multiple posts and even had my solicitor telling me otherwise. All you should be paying is your booking deposit (usually around €5k) and 5% of the value of your home. The other 5% is covered by Revenue in the form a tax rebate paid directly to the developer.

Example*:
House Price: €300,000
Booking Deposit: €5,000
10% deposit on signing contracts: €30,000
You pay €15,000 and the HTB pays €15,000 (total of €30k)

Your total expenditure is now €20k but the developer should have received a total of €35k.

This is assuming you entitled to full 5% tax rebate. You should not be in a position where you are asked to pay the full 10% deposit (€30k) and the developer is paid your tax rebate also (€15k).

3) The documentation which we uploaded to Revenue was:
a) Loan offer letter from mortgage provider
b) Signed contracts.

4) Loan Offer: In our situation we are buying a new build with a completion date approx 10 months from now. As a result our mortgage approval will expire (only lasts 6 months) as we will not be drawing down the first tranche of our mortgage until mid-late 2018. In our situation this did not negatively impact our claim.

5) Signed Contracts: We signed contracts which were witnessed by our solicitor. Our solicitor then sent them to the developers solicitors requesting they in turn sign and email a scanned copy back to him. He then emailed this to us and we uploaded them to ROS. I have heard it is also acceptable to upload contracts signed by you, witnessed by your solicitor but not signed by the developer.

6) We applied for and were offered an 80% LTV. We only intend to draw down 70% which is minimum amount allowed by the HTB scheme. Be cautious of this if you have strong savings as if you dip below the 70% LTV you will not be eligible for the tax rebate.

7) We opened our application in January but were slow with our claim at the beginning as we waited for P60s from multiple employers and our E12 to be processed. Once we had our tax affairs in order our application took 3 months end to end. It took a month from submitting all documentation to ROS until it was approved (this includes the two weeks for builders holidays which delayed the process) Although we had already sent the relevant codes to the developer's solicitor, they requested them again. It took 5 days from when we sent codes to when it was approved in ROS.

The process is relatively easy but at times can seem illogical. For example why would you sign contracts with the developer if you do not know if the HTB has been approved yet. This could be deciding factor for you in choosing a smaller home. This isn't helped by the fact a lot of solicitors are not familiar with the scheme and can't give good advise.

We were also eager to sign contracts and upload docs to ROS as at the time rumors were rife the housing minister was going to cut the scheme without notice. It was a risk but for us an acceptable one, as we already knew we were eligible for the maximum tax rebate and had received our load offer. It was the amount of time it took to process the documents which made it uncomfortable.

I hopes this helps!!

I was under the impression I couldn't apply for the payment from the HTB until such a time the house was built, a surveyor has seen it from the bank etc?

I'm in a similar condition to yourself whereby I'm buying a new build which won't be ready until the end of January but didn't think I could apply for the HTB Grant as we would not be able to provide proof of drawdown of the mortgage and have the evidence of the mortgage

beazee · 17-08-2017 12:00pm

Jeffy17 wrote: »

but didn't think I could apply for the HTB Grant as we would not be able to provide proof of drawdown of the mortgage and have the evidence of the mortgage

The only thing you've to provide/upload to Revenue is the signed builder's contract.

carleigh · 17-08-2017 3:01pm

The letter of offer re:the mortgage will suffice for HTB. We got approved in March (new build) and we wont be drawing down the mortgage until this time next month at the earliest. Just send in the paper work from the bank along with the contracts.

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

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