The Help to Buy: ISA was introduced as a tax free savings account designed to help more people save a deposit for their first home.

If you qualify under this scheme your solicitor will need to be able to draw down the bonus and we are pleased to confirm that kenneth elliott + rowe are accredited to deal with Help to Buy ISAs and are accredited on the Lender Exchange.

Although many solicitors will be on the panel of Help to Buy ISA it is worth checking your lawyers are also registered with “Lender Exchange” because if the conveyancer is not registered with the Lender Exchange the processing time for the release of funds increases and there may be additional checks and delays. This could double the time period between exchange and completion in some cases.

What is the Solicitors role in this process?

Our role is to make the bonus application on behalf each of the Help to Buy: ISA Holder and confirm that you have correctly declared your eligibility and the property being purchased meets the eligibility criteria.

This involves sending the Bonus Application to the administrator appointed by the Goverment via an on line portal, submitting the relevant documentation to the administrator of the scheme, submitting a payment request following approval and holding Bonus funds to apply to the purchase of the property.

We are also required to verify that you are acquiring an “Eligible Interest” in land, that the acquisition is funded by a non-buy-to-let mortgage (unless there are special circumstances) and that the value of the property is up to £250,000 outside London or £450,000 within London (London includes all London Boroughs including Havering Barking and Dagenham and Redbridge).

We also need to report back when the matter is concluded or in the event that the purchase fails to proceed to return any funds to the ISA account (this must occur within 3 months in any case).

What are your fees?

Because this role is not one which is part of the standard conveyancing process the cost of dealing with such applications is not included within our initial charge. The fees set by the Government and permitted to be charged under the scheme is £50 plus VAT (per individual/ISA). This fee will be added to your final bill on completion.

What documents do we need?

In our initial purchase questionnaire we ask you whether you are using a Help to Buy ISA.

If so we will prepare all the necessary documents for you to sign – this will include:

• a simple consent to enable the goverment to use your data (in accordance with Data Protection legislation),
• a  First Time Buyer declaration. This is the form required to claim your elibilty of the scheme.

You will simply need to provide to us with:

• a copy a statement which shows clearly the ISA manager, the ISA sort code and ISA account number at the beginning of the matter; and
• at the drawdown stage (normally exchange of contracts) we will require a copy of the ISA Account Closing Statement.

How do I obtain a quote and instruct your firm?

We are experienced in buying and selling all kinds of residential property including houses, flats (including share of freehold), new build property, buy to lets, shared ownership, council right to buy, transfer of ownership or equity and remortgages.

We are on the lending panel of all major lenders including Santander, Nationwide, Lloyds including Bank of Scotland/Halifax, Royal Bank of Scotland including NatWest, HSBC and Barclays/Woolwich.

If you require a quote visit our main residential property page for an instant on line quote or email mark.sadler@ker.co.uk for a free quote.