Current Help to Buy scheme extended!

- Tue 16 Feb 2021

Delays due to the pandemic have put back construction completion deadlines as much as eight months. With more than 16,000 sales at risk and buyers faced with large bills due to their purchase falling through at the last minute, it has been decided to extend the deadline of the current help to buy scheme until May 31st from March 31st.

Buyers could have been faced with large bills, primarily from solicitors, who had completed all paperwork and admin in order to complete on their new home, however with their home not built on time the sale could fall through and the buyer would be left with the legal costs that have already been carried out by the solicitor. Aside from New development sites shutting due to lockdown, further delays occurred once sites were able to open again when construction workers had to self-isolate if there was a Covid case on site or with someone they had been in close contact with. Supply lines slowed, some traders had been furloughed and overseas labour may have needed to quarantine.

In its seven year span the Help to Buy equity loan scheme has saw 278,000 households use the scheme in order to buy their dream newly built home. The scheme which was due to be coming to an end 31st March, however data as of the end of January showed nearly 17,000 sales still had to be completed. With the high volume of outstanding sales and narrow timeframe it seemed only fair to extend the scheme for a further 2 months to give purchasers a greater chance of completing on their new home when the circumstances are completely out of the buyers control.

The only disadvantage for buyers not buying for the first time using the current Help to Buy scheme, is they may now have to pay Stamp Duty. The Stamp Duty Holiday deadline is also set for 31st March 2021, although there have been discussions to extend this deadline, as it stands there is no extension on this. Buyers may not have budgeted to pay Stamp Duty, if they do not complete by 31st March, they will have to find the stamp duty costs elsewhere or again risk losing their purchase.

There will be no more applications accepted for the current Help to Buy scheme, applications for this ended on 15th December 2020. The extension is solely to allow time for current purchasers to reach completion on their purchase.

The new Help To Buy scheme 2021-2023 are allowing applications on any registered Help To Buy development and is eligible for first time buyers only.

If you are a first time buyer and are considering using Help to Buy to get onto the property ladder, take a look at all our new homes developments via the link below, many of which are registered with Help to Buy.

We can also put you in touch with our Mortgage Team for a free remote mortgage appointment to give you a better idea of your budget and get you the best deal on your monthly repayments. All of our team are specialists with Help to Buy applications having processed plenty of the over the last seven years and would be happy to help you.

View all our New Homes Here...

Contact the Mortgage Team: Here...

Current Help to Buy scheme extended!

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