Help to Buy extended due to COVID-19
Government announce two-month extension of Help to Buy scheme
On Friday 31st July, the government announced that they will be extending the current Help to Buy scheme to aid budding buyers looking to get on the property ladder, whilst easing pressure on housebuilders.
Under the current scheme, which is due to end in March next year, new homes were required to be completed by the end of December for buyers to qualify for the government equity loan. However, this has been extended to February 28th 2021 in light of delays caused by COVID-19 on building sites across the country.
This extension will help thousands of customers by ensuring they don’t miss out on buying their new home because of construction delays. The deadline for the legal completion on the sale of homes will remain as March 31st 2021.
Additionally, in order to protect existing purchasers who have encountered severe delays due to the pandemic, it has also been announced that Homes England will work with those who had reservations in place before June 30th 2020 to assess their situation and look at providing extensions where necessary. In this case, the buyer will have until May 31st 2021 to legally complete on their home.
A new version of Help to Buy is due to replace the current scheme, coming into effect from April 1st 2021 and running until March 2023. This change will see updates to the eligibility criteria including the implementation of regional price caps and the scheme being restricted to first time buyers only.
Register with Share to Buy to be kept up to date with all developments regarding first time buyers products and housing options such as Shared Ownership and Help to Buy. You can also start your property search on Share to Buy’s portal today!