This article was originally published in November 2019 and last updated in September 2026 to reflect the current status of each scheme.

Where Help to Buy stands in 2026

The quick picture as of September 2026:

• The original Help to Buy Equity Loan (England) is closed: applications ended in October 2022 and all completions had to finish by 31 May 2023.

• Help to Buy Wales is the only Help to Buy scheme still open to new applications, until 31 March 2027, on new-build homes up to £300,000 with a 5% deposit.

• The Help to Buy ISA closed to new savers in 2019, but existing holders can keep saving and claim the 25% bonus until 1 December 2030; the Lifetime ISA is the current alternative.

• With a 5% deposit today, the main routes are standard 95% mortgages, Shared Ownership and, in England, First Homes.

• Rules differ across the UK: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each run their own schemes, so check what is available where you are buying.

The Government has set up several different Help to Buy schemes that are designed to help potential buyers who are struggling to save for the initial deposit on their first home. Under these schemes, first-time buyers, including contractors, can buy a property with just a 5% deposit. Without these schemes, you'd tend to need a deposit of 10% or above to get approved for a good deal. Most of these schemes have since closed to new applicants, so check each scheme's current status below before planning around it.

To help you better understand your options, we've teamed up with the experts over at CMME, one of the UK's leading online mortgage brokers. They've shared their overview of the different Help to Buy schemes, from shared ownership to equity loans, to help you decide if they're right for you:

Shared Ownership

The Shared Ownership scheme can help you to get onto the property ladder by allowing you to purchase part of a house and then pay rent on the percentage you don't own at a reduced rate. Your local housing association will own the other bit of the property so you'll pay the rent to them.

Under the scheme, you can usually purchase between 25 - 75% of a property. You then have the option to buy more of the house in the future, so you can slowly work your way up to owning the full value of the house.

In England, GOV.UK sets the Shared Ownership income cap at £80,000 a year or less for your household (£90,000 or less in London). If you are a first-time buyer, you used to own a home but can’t afford to buy one now, or you are a shared owner looking to move, you could be eligible.

It’s worth remembering that, under shared ownership, although you’ll only own a percentage of the property, you’ll still be required to pay all the maintenance costs.

Shared Ownership: the costs and catches the headline percentage doesn't show

Buying a 25% share does not mean paying 25% of the running costs. Shared Ownership is the one scheme in this article still fully open, and it works well for many buyers - but the monthly outgoings and the exit route both differ from ordinary ownership in ways that are easy to miss at the viewing stage.

The full monthly cost stack

• Mortgage payment on the share you own.

• Rent to the housing association on the share you don't own, typically charged at up to 2.75% of that share's value each year.

• Service charge, covering communal areas, buildings insurance, lifts and grounds maintenance - often £100-£250 a month on a new-build flat and payable in full regardless of your share size.

• Ground rent where the lease provides for it, though most new leases now set this at a peppercorn.

• Sinking fund contributions towards future major works on the block.

How rent on the unowned share is calculated and how often it rises

Rent is set against the value of the landlord's retained share and reviewed annually, usually in April. Older leases typically use RPI plus 0.5%, while newer homes built under the government's 2021 Shared Ownership model lease use CPI plus 1%, as set out in GOV.UK Shared Ownership guidance. Either way the rent rises every year, so build in a rising figure rather than assuming today's payment holds.

Staircasing explained - and the 2021 model changes

• Staircasing is buying additional shares in your own home, which reduces the rent you pay.

• Homes sold under the 2021 model allow an initial share as low as 10% and staircasing in 1% increments for the first 15 years.

• Older leases usually require a minimum initial share of 25% and staircasing in blocks of 10%.

• Each purchase is priced at current market value, so if prices rise, later shares cost more.

• Reaching 100% ownership is known as staircasing out, after which you own the property outright - though on some rural exception sites there is a cap preventing full ownership.

The fees you pay each time you staircase

• RICS valuation fee, typically £250-£500, valid for around three months.

• Housing association administration fee.

• Legal fees for the lease amendment.

• Mortgage arrangement or product fees if you need to borrow more.

• Possible stamp duty, depending on whether you elected to pay on full market value at the outset.

Repairs on a share you only part-own

Shared Ownership leases make you responsible for 100% of internal repairs and maintenance even if you own 25%. Homes sold under the 2021 model come with a 10-year repairs allowance of up to £500 a year towards essential repairs to fixtures and building safety items, but that only applies to newer schemes. Older leases offer no such cover.

Selling a shared ownership home

• Your landlord usually has a nomination period, commonly four to eight weeks, to find a buyer before you can market openly.

• The sale price is normally set by an independent RICS valuation, not by what you think the home is worth.

• The buyer pool is narrower, so resale can take longer than an equivalent open-market flat.

• If you have staircased to 100% you can sell freely, though the landlord may retain a right of first refusal.

Leasehold and mortgageability red flags

• Lease length: under 85 years remaining can restrict lender choice and cost thousands to extend.

• Escalating ground rent clauses, which some lenders refuse outright.

• Building safety and cladding documentation on flats above 11 metres.

• Service charge history - ask for three years of accounts and any planned major works.

• Subletting restrictions: you generally cannot let the whole property out.

Who Shared Ownership genuinely suits

It works best if you have a stable income, expect to stay put for at least five years, and cannot bridge the gap to a full purchase in the area you need to live in. It suits people less well if you expect to move within two or three years, need certainty over monthly costs, or are close to affording a full purchase with a 95% mortgage instead.

Help to buy ISA

In December 2015, the government launched a Help to Buy ISA designed to help first-time buyers save for a deposit. Under the scheme, the government will boost your savings by 25%, up to a £3,000 cap. So, for every £200 you save, you will receive a government bonus of £50. The government recently announced that they'll be closing this scheme to applications on 30th November 2019, so you'll need to get your application in before then if you'd like to set up an ISA.

You can pay up to £200 into the ISA each month, as well as being able to deposit a lump sum of up to £1200 in the first month. It’s worth noting that the accounts are available to each first-time buyer, rather than each household. So, if you’re planning to buy with your partner, for example, you can each save into a separate ISA.

The Help to Buy ISA is available through a variety of banks, building societies & credit unions and is available for new savers until the 30th November 2019. You will then have until the 1st December 2030 to claim your bonus.

It’s worth noting that, under the scheme rules published on GOV.UK, the minimum government bonus is £400, so you’ll need at least £1,600 saved in your ISA before you can claim it. The bonus can’t be used for the deposit due at the exchange of contracts, to pay for solicitor or estate agent fees, or for any other indirect costs involved in the purchasing process. It's only for the deposit on the home you are buying.

Help to Buy ISA vs Lifetime ISA: which one is right for you

If you already hold a Help to Buy ISA, the practical question is whether to keep saving into it or move to a Lifetime ISA (LISA). The LISA is the only one of the two you can still open, and it pays a bigger annual bonus - but it comes with a higher property price cap in some areas, a 12-month waiting period, and a withdrawal charge that can cost you more than the bonus itself.

Property price caps compared - and why the £450,000 LISA cap catches out London buyers

The Help to Buy ISA restricted you to homes worth £250,000 outside London, which quickly became unworkable in the South East. The LISA's flat £450,000 cap is far more generous across most of the UK, but it has not moved since 2017, so London and commuter-belt buyers regularly find suitable flats priced just above it. Go a pound over and you lose the bonus and pay the withdrawal charge to release your own money.

The exchange-of-contracts problem

The Help to Buy ISA bonus is only released at completion, so it cannot fund the deposit you hand over at exchange of contracts. That catches out savers who assumed the full pot would be available on the day. The LISA has no such restriction - the bonus lands in your account each month, so it is genuinely part of your deposit from the moment it is paid.

The 25% LISA withdrawal charge

If you withdraw LISA money for anything other than a first home up to £450,000, a terminal illness, or retirement from age 60, you pay a 25% charge on the whole withdrawal. Because that charge applies to your contributions as well as the bonus, you end up with less than you put in: save £1,000, receive £250 bonus, withdraw £1,250 and the charge is £312.50, leaving £937.50.

Can I transfer my existing Help to Buy ISA into a Lifetime ISA?

Yes. Providers allow transfers from a Help to Buy ISA into a LISA, and the transferred amount counts towards your £4,000 annual LISA allowance. Transfer rather than withdraw and re-deposit, so the money keeps its tax-free status. Bear in mind the 12-month clock runs from when the LISA was opened, not from when the transfer lands.

Can I hold both at the same time, and can I claim both bonuses?

You can hold both accounts and pay into both in the same tax year, but you can only use one government bonus towards a single property purchase. Many savers keep the Help to Buy ISA open as a fallback while building the LISA, then decide at purchase which bonus to claim. If you are buying with a partner, you can each claim your own bonus on your own account.

Help to Buy equity loan

Under a Help to Buy equity loan, the government loaned the property buyer up to 20% of the cost of a new-build home. This meant that, with a 5% deposit, you would typically look to borrow the remaining 75% on a mortgage, subject to the lender's own checks.

Both first-time buyers and existing homeowners looking to move into a new build property can qualify for this scheme. Set to run until 2021, the scheme allows you to invest in a property up to £600,000 on a repayment mortgage. In Wales, it covers properties up to £300,000 and up to £200,000 in Scotland. It is open to first-time buyers and existing homeowners provided the home you buy is your only residence and you are not buying it to let out for investment purposes (known as buy to let).

To be considered, you had to apply through a dedicated Help to Buy Government Agency, which checked your eligibility before you applied for a mortgage; approval always rested with the lender. For full details visit the government website. Under GOV.UK scheme rules, you won’t be charged loan fees on the equity loan for the first five years of owning the property; interest then starts at 1.75% and rises each year.

However, it’s important to remember that interest only mortgages are not eligible, and you must not own any other property. The Equity Loan scheme also only applies to new build properties.

London Help to Buy

In February 2016, the Government increased the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme’s upper loan limit from 20% to 40% for buyers in all London boroughs. This was in response to property prices in the capital.

You won’t be charged loan fees on the 40% loan for the first five years of owning the property.

For further information about taking your first steps onto the property ladder, or to find out more about mortgages for contractors, freelancers, and the self-employed, please get in touch - we’re always happy to help.

What's actually available now: Help to Buy schemes that have closed vs. what replaced them

Help to Buy is no longer available to new applicants. The Help to Buy ISA shut to new savers on 30 November 2019, the Help to Buy Equity Loan in England closed to new applications on 31 October 2022 with all legal completions required by 31 May 2023, and Help to Buy Wales remains open to new applications until 31 March 2027. London Help to Buy ended alongside the wider English Equity Loan scheme. If you have landed here asking "is Help to Buy still available", the short answer is no - but several successor routes exist, and the guidance below explains each scheme's status and what has taken its place.

Status snapshot: which schemes are open, closed, or legacy-only

What existing Help to Buy ISA and Equity Loan holders should do

Closure only affects new applicants. If you already hold a Help to Buy ISA you can keep paying in up to £200 a month and claim your 25% government bonus at completion, provided you buy before 1 December 2030. If you already have an Equity Loan, nothing changes: your interest-free period still runs for five years from completion, after which loan interest begins, and the loan is repaid on sale or when you staircase out. Redemption is still based on a percentage of the property's market value at the time you repay, not the original cash sum.

The current equivalents for a 5% deposit buyer

Buyers with a 5% deposit now rely mostly on standard high street lending. Widely available 95% loan-to-value mortgages have replaced the need for an equity loan, and Deposit Unlock previously offered 95% lending on new-builds through participating developers, though it appears to have wound down, so check what new-build schemes lenders and developers currently offer. First Homes provides new-build properties at a 30-50% discount to market value in some council areas, with the discount passed on to future buyers. Shared Ownership remains the most widely available route where a full purchase is out of reach.

Nation-by-nation note

In England, Shared Ownership and First Homes are the main live options (Deposit Unlock, the 95% new-build scheme, appears to have wound down - check current availability with developers and lenders). In Wales, Help to Buy Wales remains open to new applications until 31 March 2027, alongside Shared Ownership Wales and Homebuy. Scotland's First Home Fund closed in 2021, so buyers there use the Open Market Shared Equity scheme, which prioritises first-time buyers and certain priority groups. In Northern Ireland, Co-Ownership Housing offers the equivalent part-buy, part-rent structure with its own regional price limits.

Ask the expert

We asked Dale Parry, one of CMME’s senior Mortgage experts to explain the pros and cons of Help to Buy schemes and what the alternatives are…

Is a Help to Buy scheme for me?

In simple terms, Help to Buy was designed to help potential home buyers, struggling to raise the required deposit for a mortgage. Typically Help to Buy schemes appeal to first time buyers wanting to get on the property ladder but can also help existing homeowners upscale to their next home.

What are the pros and cons of these schemes?

Help to Buy schemes can enable you to purchase your own home sooner and with potential lower monthly mortgage payments. Plus, with the Equity Loan scheme, you don’t have to make any repayments on the Government loan for the first 5 years. This gives you a little extra financial flexibility as you settle into your new home.

On the downside, the restrictions around the type of property - newbuilds only - and the fact you can only own one property to qualify could be limiting for some. Plus, property developers and mortgage lenders alike are not obliged to participate in the scheme so it’s worth doing your homework before embarking on your property search.

Lastly, with the Equity Loan scheme, it’s important to note that if the property rises in value, so too will the 20% equity loan. The main thing you need to understand about this is that it means your repayments will go up. Plus, if you decide to sell within the first 5 years, you will normally be required to pay back the government loan in full.

So, what are the alternatives?

The good news is that as the mortgage market has continued to recover from the ‘credit crunch’ and consumer confidence has grown, traditional mortgage lenders are re-evaluating their stance in the market. New lenders have also emerged and in the last 12 months, we have seen an increased appetite for lending.

This has led to the re-emergence of 95% mortgages, which may provide a credible alternative to the Help to Buy schemes.

How do 95% mortgages compare to Help to Buy schemes?

With both options, the buyer is only required to put up a small deposit - 5% of the property's value. However, with a 95% mortgage, there is no government involvement, no Help to Buy application forms to complete and you are not tied to a loan that may be increasing with property value.

On the flipside, 95% Mortgage rates will usually be less competitive than those through Help to Buy. But you will likely have greater lender choice with a 95% mortgage, meaning you will be able to shop around for the best deal.

Plus, you may be able to reduce your monthly mortgage payments in the early years as more and more lenders are offering longer mortgage terms - up to age 75 in some cases - subject to anticipated retirement age. However, making smaller monthly payments over a longer period of time does mean you'll end up paying a lot more in interest overall.

Ultimately though, the choice is a personal one based on your own circumstances and so it’s well worth doing your own research or speaking to a mortgage broker.

First-time buyer questions we get asked most

What credit score do I need to get a mortgage as a first-time buyer?

There is no universal pass mark, because every lender scores applicants against its own criteria and also weighs your income, existing borrowing and whether the repayments are affordable. What matters is what sits behind the score: a clean payment history, low balances relative to your credit limits, being on the electoral roll at your current address, and no recent defaults or county court judgments. A score in the Looking bright band (605-724) or above may help, though any decision still rests on the lender's own checks, and you can check your score for free before you apply.

How much deposit do I actually need - is 5% still realistic?

Yes, 5% deposits are widely available again through standard 95% loan-to-value mortgages. The trade-off is rate: lenders price 95% lending higher than 90%, and higher again than 75%. Every step down in loan-to-value may mean lenders offer you a better rate, so if you are close to 10%, saving a little longer often costs less over a five-year fixed term than buying immediately.

Does checking my credit score hurt my mortgage application?

No. ClearScore is not a credit reference agency, but we give you your credit score and report for free using data from Equifax, and checking it is a soft search visible only to you. Only formal credit applications leave a hard search on your file. Several hard searches in a short window can concern lenders, so avoid applying for new credit cards, car finance or loans in the months before you apply for a mortgage.

How far in advance should I start tidying up my credit file?

Give yourself six to twelve months. That is long enough to register on the electoral roll, correct errors with the three UK credit reference agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), pay down credit card balances below 30% of the limit, close accounts you no longer use, and build a run of on-time payments. Defaults and CCJs stay on your file for six years, so knowing what is there early lets you plan around it.

Can I get a mortgage if I'm self-employed, a contractor or on a zero-hours contract?

Yes, though the evidence requirements differ. Self-employed applicants are usually asked for two years of accounts or SA302 tax calculations, with lenders averaging the figures or taking the most recent year. Day-rate contractors can often be assessed on their contract value annualised, rather than on drawn income. Zero-hours workers generally need twelve months of payslips showing consistent earnings. A broker who regularly places this kind of case is worth the introduction.

What costs should I budget for beyond the deposit?

• Valuation or survey: £400-£1,300 depending on the level of detail.

• Conveyancing and legal fees: roughly £1,000-£2,000 plus disbursements.

• Searches and Land Registry fees: £300-£500.

• Mortgage arrangement fee: often £0-£1,500, sometimes addable to the loan.

• Removals: £400-£1,500.

• Buildings insurance, required from exchange of contracts.

• Immediate works, furnishings and white goods, which are routinely underestimated.

Do I still pay stamp duty as a first-time buyer?

First-time buyers in England and Northern Ireland pay no stamp duty on the first £300,000 of a property costing up to £500,000, and standard rates apply above that ceiling. Scotland and Wales operate their own systems - Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Land Transaction Tax respectively - with different thresholds and reliefs. Because thresholds are periodically revised at fiscal events, confirm the current rates before you budget.

Is it better to use a broker or go direct to a lender?

A broker sees the whole market, including deals not sold direct, and knows which lenders accept unusual income or credit histories. Going direct can work if your circumstances are straightforward and your existing bank has a competitive product. If you are self-employed, have a thin credit file, or are buying a leasehold flat, a broker usually earns their fee.

What is a mortgage in principle and does it affect my credit score?

A mortgage in principle, sometimes called a decision in principle or agreement in principle, is a lender's indication of how much it would lend you subject to full checks. Estate agents often ask to see one before accepting an offer. Many lenders run a soft search at this stage, leaving no mark; a few run a hard search. Ask which applies before you proceed, and avoid collecting several.

What happens if my circumstances change between offer and completion?

Tell your lender or broker straight away. Lenders can re-check your credit file and employment shortly before release of funds, so a new loan, a job change, a probation period or a missed payment can put the offer at risk. Changes are usually manageable when disclosed early and far harder to fix once discovered at the final check.