Forces Help to Buy Scheme – Last Chance

Forces Help to Buy Scheme – Last Chance

Off By Ed Hanna

The scheme that has helped hundreds of Forces personnel and their families get on to the property ladder is due to close this month.

Forces Help to Buy was introduced in 2014 as a £200 million scheme to help Service personnel get on to the property ladder more easily. The latest figures show that since that time around £215 million has been invested in it and is a testament to its popularity.

Success

Forces Help to Buy has been a huge success and while it has already been extended beyond its original planned closure date, there are no guarantees (as we go to press) that it will again. The fact is that because it’s backed by the MoD, its success means that it has cost more public money than originally planned. By the same token, that same success is something that the Government, through the MoD, might want to proudly continue with.

Since there has been no announcement on the future of the scheme it would appear that it really is going to close. What’ll happen next is anyone’s guess but it would be a surprise if the MoD didn’t recognise the appetite for such a scheme and the need, if not for another extension, then for an updated or new scheme offering similar options. If that doesn’t happen, it might well be that some of the UK’s housing developers and property companies, some of whom are already signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant may design products and services specifically for the Forces community, although these are likely to be less beneficial than Forces Help to Buy.

Best advice has to be to act now to avoid disappointment.

About Forces Help To Buy

The FHTB scheme allows Service personnel to borrow an interest-free advance of up to 50% of their salary (to a limit of £25,000), which they can use towards a deposit on a property. This is then paid back over 10 years through their monthly salary.

More:www.gov.uk/guidance/forces-help-to-buy

Another option…Shared Ownership

Shared ownership is designed to make that first step of getting onto the property ladder possible by enabling an initial purchase for part of the home. While repaying a manageable monthly mortgage amount for part of your property – usually between 25%-75% – you continue to pay rent on the rest. The aim is to purchase the remaining shares over time, eventually owning 100% of your home.