Help-to-Buy ISA

If you are saving to buy your first home, save money into a Help-to-Buy ISA and the government will boost your savings by 25%. So, for every £200 you save, receive a government bonus of £50. The maximum government bonus you can receive is £3,000.

Open: The Help-to-Buy ISA will be available from a range of banks and building societies.

The accounts are available to each first time buyer, not each household. This means that if you are planning to buy with your partner, for example, you could receive a government bonus of up to £6,000 towards your first home.

Save: Save up to £200 a month into your Help-to-Buy ISA. To kick start your account, in your first month, you can deposit a lump sum of up to £1,200.

The minimum government bonus is £400, meaning that you need to have saved at least £1,600 into your Help-to-Buy ISA before you can claim your bonus. The maximum government bonus you can receive is £3,000 – to receive that, you need to have saved £12,000.

Receive bonus: When you buy your first home, your solicitor or conveyancer will apply for your government bonus. Once they receive the government bonus, it will be added to the money you are putting towards your first home.

Who is eligible?

To qualify for a Help-to-Buy ISA you must:

• be 16 or over

• have a valid National Insurance number

• be a UK resident

• be a first time buyer, and not own a property anywhere in the world

• not have another active cash ISA in the same tax year: If you have opened a cash ISA this tax year, you can open a Help-to-Buy ISA but will have to take additional steps.

To qualify for the government bonus, the property you are buying must:

• be in the UK

• cost up to £250,000, or up to £450,000 if you are buying in London

• not be a second home or a buy-to-let property

• not be rented out after you buy it

• be purchased with a mortgage.

You can use the Help-to-Buy ISA with other government schemes, including the Help-to-Buy Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, Help-to-Buy Equity Loan Scheme and Shared Ownership