Using Lifetime
ISA Funds for
your first home
Using Lifetime ISA Funds
for your first home
Using Lifetime ISA Funds for your first home
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Newsletter
You must be a first-time buyer to put the Lifetime ISA towards your first home. A first-time buyer is someone who does not own, and has never owned, a home anywhere in the UK or the rest of the world.
To be able to be eligible for the government bonus, you must have opened a Lifetime ISA at least 12 months ago.
The home you buy must:
- be in the UK,
- have a price of £450,000 or less,
- be the only home you will own,
- be where you intend to live,
- be purchased with a mortgage.
If you’re buying with someone else and they are also a first-time buyer, you can put both bonuses towards the purchase of your home. The price of the home still mustn’t be more than £450,000.
If you’re buying a home with someone who has owned a property before they don’t count as a first-time buyer. But you can still put your own bonus towards the price of the home you’re buying together.
You can use your Lifetime ISA with other government schemes if you meet the eligibility requirements of the other schemes you wish to participate in.
You can use the Lifetime ISA to buy land for a self-build property if the purchase meets all the other criteria for property purchase through the scheme.
Speak to your solicitor or conveyancer if you’re not sure whether the property you are purchasing is within the price limit of the Lifetime ISA and if you can use your government bonus.
Planning Your Purchase
Lifetime ISA funds, including the bonus, can be put towards an exchange deposit, provided the property purchase is completed within 90 days of your conveyancer receiving the withdrawn funds from your Lifetime ISA manager.
If it’s taking longer than 90 days for your property purchase to go through, your conveyancer can write to HMRC for an extension.
There is no restriction on which stage of the property purchase you can put your Lifetime ISA funds towards. If it meets the conditions above, you will be able to put them towards a deposit at exchange of contracts.
