What Happens When I Close My Help To Buy ISA?
Posted on 17th March 2020
At MG Legal, our Preston solicitors understand that saving for a new property is a big investment and is aided, for many first-time buyers, by the Help to Buy ISA.
What is the Help to Buy ISA?
The Help to Buy ISA is a government backed scheme, in which those with accounts can deposit up to £200.00 per month to help save for their first property. Whilst the same cannot be used towards deposit funds, Help to Buy ISAs have helped many first-time buyers in getting onto the property ladder.
The Help to Buy ISA is no longer available, in terms of setting up new accounts, however, is still to provide a huge benefit to those who opened accounts before 30th November 2019. See our blog in which our solicitors in Preston discuss the ISA, and how it works, in more detail, here.
On top of the savings made, the government will ‘top up’ the same by providing a 25% contribution, also known as the bonus amount. This is where the expertise of our Preston solicitors come in, in order to obtain this amount for you.
What happens when I close my Help to Buy ISA?
When a Completion Date has been agreed, your conveyancing solicitor will ask that you close your Help to Buy ISA account, and provide them with a copy of the closing statement. The closing statement is an important document that is required by your Preston solicitor, in order to redeem the bonus amount on your behalf. You should, therefore, endeavour to provide this document as soon as possible, as some banks can take up to five working days to let you have the same.
In addition, your Preston solicitor will also ask that you sign a First-Time Buyer Declaration Form to confirm that you are, indeed, a first-time buyer. This document also provides for certain information pertaining to the account itself, which is required for the redeeming process. A copy of the form can be found here.
Once you have closed your ISA account and have the above required documents, your solicitors in Preston can then proceed with redeeming the bonus on your behalf. This involves accessing the Help to Buy Portal, and inputting various details pertaining to the transaction. These include your personal details, such as your full name and national insurance number, but also transaction specific items, such as the anticipated Completion Date and the details of the property being purchased.
Once your solicitor in Preston has inputted the necessary data, the bonus request is submitted via the portal, for consideration. The funds from the account are automatically remitted back into your current account, on closing the ISA. The bonus amount, however, is remitted to your conveyancing solicitor, once requested for a specific date.
Requests are to be made five-working days before they are required, however, where this is not possible, there is a facility for an urgent request to be made. Our solicitors in Preston understand that, within the world of conveyancing, transactions can significantly change on a daily basis and, therefore, urgent requests are required, in some instances.
Once the request for funds has been approved, and scheduled, the payment is automatically forwarded to your conveyancing solicitor, on the requested date. This payment is then deducted from the amount required from you to complete the matter, however, as discussed above, cannot be used to contribute towards deposit funds. You should, therefore, ensure that you have sufficient funds in place in order to facilitate Exchange of Contracts, without placing reliance on the ISA monies.
If you are a first-time buyer, purchasing a property with the assistance of a Help to Buy ISA, it is important that you advise your Preston solicitor of the same from the outset. This is to avoid any delays in the bonus being requested, prior to Completion.
If you have any queries on the Help to Buy ISA, or any other conveyancing query, contact our solicitors in Preston today, at property@mglegal.co.uk, and our expert team will be on hand to assist.
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