New Homes

Introduction to Green Key New Homes

Our New Homes department offers a dedicated service to those looking to buy or sell new homes, gain planning permission for building new property, or buy or sell land – making the whole process as smooth as possible.

Our team of local property people has excellent knowledge of the new homes sector and can offer the best advice throughout the whole process.

Help To Buy Scheme:

Help to buy is a government initiative providing assistance to home buyers purchasing a new build property in England. The scheme is available to all home buyers (not just first time buyers) who wish to buy a home which they may not ordinarily be able to due to certain constraints such as deposit requirements. In Lincolnshire there is up to a maximum of 20% of the total property value available in the form of an equity loan. However this is capped at a total loan of £120,000. The borrowing limit increases to 40% in London. The initiative was originally due to run up until 2021 but as per the Autumn budget, it has now been extended until 2023.

Unfortunately not all new homes are available with Help to Buy assistance. The individual developer must first register their new build site with Help to Buy, then they can advertise that funding is available. You should look out for the Help to Buy logo to confirm that Help to Buy is available. If you can’t see a logo then be sure to ask for confirmation.

How does it Work?

Amount of loan

The maximum you can borrow from Help to Buy in England is £120,000 and up to £240,000 for London. There is no minimum amount.

Buyer deposit required

Buyers must provide a deposit of a minimum of 5% of the full purchase price of the home bought under this scheme.

Frequency, number and amount of repayments

After five years you will be required to pay an interest fee of 1.75% of the amount of your Help to Buy shared equity loan at the time you purchased your property, rising each year after that by the increase (if any) in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) plus 1%. The loan itself is repayable after 25 years or on the sale of the property if earlier.

Other Payments and Charges

You must pay a monthly management fee of £1 per month from the start of the loan until it is repaid.

Total Amount Repayable

The total amount repayable by you will be the proportion of the market value of your home that was funded by this loan, plus interest and charges. The amount you will have to repay under the loan agreement will depend on the market value of your home when you repay the Help to Buy equity loan and the rate of inflation in the meantime.

For more details on how the Help to Buy scheme could help you, please contact us today and we will gladly assist you.

A full guide to the Help to Buy scheme can also be found on the government website. Here’s a link to make things easier for you:

Shared Ownership Schemes

Help To Buy: Shared Ownership In England

Overview

If you can’t quite afford the mortgage on 100% of a home, Help to Buy: Shared Ownership offers the chance to buy a share of your home (between 25% and 75% of the home’s value) and pay rent on the remaining share. Depending on the housing association that is providing the home, you could buy more shares when you can afford to at a later date.

You could buy a home through Help to Buy: Shared Ownership in England if:

• Your household earns £80,000 a year or less (£90,000 or less in London).
• You are a first-time buyer OR you used to own a home but can’t afford to buy one now OR you are an existing shared owner looking to move.

With Help to Buy: Shared Ownership you can buy a newly built or existing homes a local housing association. You’ll need to take out a mortgage to pay for your share of the home’s purchase price, or fund this through your savings. Shared Ownership properties are always leasehold. The freehold is held by the housing association. You may be able to take over the freehold if and when you are able to purchase 100% of the shares in your home at a later date. Remember, the ability to do this is at the housing associations discretion. Sometimes councils will issue a priority order on a shared ownership home-building programmes, based on local housing needs. Details of any priority groups on each development should always available before you make an application

People with disabilities

Home Ownership for People with Long-Term Disabilities (HOLD) can help you buy any home that’s for sale on a Shared Ownership basis if you have a long-term disability.

You can only apply for HOLD if the properties available through the other home ownership schemes don’t meet your needs (for example, you need a ground-floor property).

Older people

You can get help from another home ownership scheme called Older People’s Shared Ownership if you’re aged 55 or over. It works in the same way as the general Shared Ownership scheme, but you can only buy up to 75% of your home. Once you own 75% you won’t have to pay rent on the remaining share.

Applying for a Help to Buy: Shared Ownership home

Here at Green Key, we have many years’ experience dealing with shared ownership properties. Contact us today if you’d like more information on current and upcoming shared ownership properties, or even if you simply have a question about the scheme.