When buying a property through the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme, a lot of people question whether it is different to the normal conveyancing process when buying on the open market? Is it more complicated? Will it delay things? Some of the paperwork might be unfamiliar to you but employing an experienced solicitor to guide you through should mean that the conveyancing process is no more difficult, enabling you to meet the 28-day exchange deadline and ultimately allowing you to move into your brand-new home.

 

What exactly can you expect?

Once you’ve found your new home and reserved it with the developer, you’ll start the Help to Buy (HTB) application process by completing a ‘property information form’. You’ll be asked straightforward questions about the property and about your income (all this information is required for your mortgage application, so you should generally have all this to hand). It is at this stage that you should be speaking to a mortgage adviser who will guide you through your mortgage application.

 

When to instruct your solicitor

Once you’ve submitted your application and been approved, the Help to Buy (HTB) agent (who administers the equity loan) will issue to you, your solicitor and the developer the ‘authority to proceed’ pack. This is the stage when your solicitor should start to take charge of the process for you. The solicitor will be asked to complete some additional paperwork on your behalf, and they will submit that paperwork together with a copy of your mortgage offer, your valuation and a form that they will have received from your developer disclosing any incentives.

If the Help to Buy (HTB) agent is happy, your solicitor will be issued with ‘authority to exchange’. This is the green light for the solicitor that the Help to Buy (HTB) funding is all in place, so they are now safe to proceed to exchange for you. Exchange is the legally binding bit (when you can finally rest assured that it’s happening!).

So, when will you get your key? That depends on how quickly the developer can build. You might be able to move quickly, or you might have to wait a little while. When your home is ready the developer will let you and your solicitor know and at that stage your solicitor will request that the equity loan is released. The loan will be sent from the Help to Buy (HTB) agent straight to the developer to help ensure things run smoothly.

Of course, before you embark on anything to do with buying a new home, you should always seek the advice of a solicitor that specialises in Residential Property law to ensure that you can be advised specifically with your personal circumstances considered. You can easily search for a solicitor with this specialism using our free search, and without having to provide any of your personal data. All our solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).