When you’re trying to buy your first home or, if you’re a home mover, there’s nothing better than being able to get some help with buying a new home.
We’ve heard recently from the Scottish Government about their extension to the Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme. We covered that in an earlier article you can view here. There’s also additional money being put into the First Home Fund. Those two schemes alone will help many thousands of people to get help with buying a new home.
The various schemes mainly help out first-time buyers, but there are some schemes available to home movers.
In this article, we’ll take a quick look at all the schemes currently available. We’ve included links so you can find out if the schemes to help with buying a new home are suitable.
First Home Fund
Only first-time buyers can apply to this scheme. First-time buyers can apply for support of up to £25,000 of the cost of their new house. There aren’t any restrictions on whether the property is a new build or an existing property.
You can download the leaflet about this scheme by clicking here. If you want to find out more about this scheme, please click here.
Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) scheme
This scheme is available across Scotland and it focuses on existing homes. It’s open to first-time buyers and certain priority groups. These are:
- people aged over 60
- social renters
- disabled people
- members of the armed forces
- veterans who’ve left the armed forces within the last two years
- widows, widowers and other partners of service personnel for up to two years after their spouse or partner has lost their life whilst serving.
You have to find between 60% and 90% of the cost of the house. You can make this up through your deposit and mortgage. You’ll own the house outright with the Scottish Government taking a security over the property for their contribution.
This scheme is aimed at households with low to medium incomes. Your application will be assessed to determine if you’re eligible. You’ll also have to show you need help with buying a new home and without this support you couldn’t afford it.
Finally, there’s a ceiling on the value of the house depending on its size and where it is in Scotland. Click here to view a chart of these values. If, for instance, you’re looking to buy a property in South Lanarkshire, the ceiling for a 4-apartment house is £80,000.
Click here to find out how the scheme works. Download the leaflet for this scheme by clicking here.
New Supply Shared Equity (NSSE) scheme
This scheme is open to the same range of people as the Open Market Shared Equity scheme. However, it is also available to people who have previously owned a home but have experienced a significant change of circumstances. An example of this would be someone who has gone through a marital breakup.
You can apply for this if you’re looking for help with buying a new build home from a housing association or local authority but cannot afford the full price.
This scheme works in the same way as the Open Market Shared Equity scheme. You have to find 60% – 80% of the cost of the house (made up of your deposit and mortgage).
Click here for full details of this scheme and here to download the leaflet for this scheme.
Shared Ownership scheme
The Shared Ownership scheme provides help with buying a new home to those on a low income. You can buy a 25%, 50% or 75% stake in a home. The rest is owned by a housing association. In addition to your mortgage, you’ll also pay an occupancy charge to the housing association.
You’ll pay all the normal running costs of the property, just as you would for any owned property.
Click here if you’d like more information on the Shared Ownership scheme.
Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme
There are two aspects of this scheme. The Affordable New Build scheme and The Smaller Developer scheme.
The Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme is open to both first-time buyers and home movers. It’s restricted to new build homes only.
The scheme provides help with up to 15% of the purchase price and there is a ceiling of £200,000 on that purchase price. You’ll have to make up the remaining 85% through your deposit and mortgage.
Click here to find out how this scheme works. You can also click here to download the Help to Buy leaflet.
Click here to find out how you go about buying a house. Check out some of our recent articles on help with buying a new home. We talk about how the help to buy scheme has been extended here. If you’re a first-time buyer and would like to know about the First Home Fund, read our article on it here. Finally, if you’d like more information on what conveyancing is and what we do, please click here.
If you’re thinking about buying or selling and looking to get help with buying a new home, please get in touch.
