Can you use two Lifetime ISAs to buy a house?
If you’re saving a house deposit, a Lifetime ISA can help you reach your goal sooner. Save up to £4,000 a year and the government will boost your savings by 25% - giving you up to £1,000 a year free towards your first home. But can you use two Lifetime ISAs to buy a house? Let’s take a look at how to make the most of this amazing home-buying hack.
What are the different types of ISAs?
There are multiple different ISA types, these include:
- Cash ISA
- Stocks and Shares ISA
- Innovative Finance ISA
- Lifetime ISA
- Help to Buy ISA (no longer available to new customers)
How many ISAs can I use to buy a house?
You can use multiple LISAs to buy a house, but you can only use one Lifetime ISA per person. So if you’re buying with a partner and you both have a Lifetime ISA, you can use two LISAs to buy a house together. You can also use savings you have in other ISAs types like a Cash ISA or Stocks and Shares ISA alongside your LISA. The exception to this is the Help to Buy ISA - you can only use a Lifetime ISA or a Help to Buy ISA to buy a house, not both. This is because you can only use the government bonus from one of them to buy your first home.
If you’re both able to max out your LISAs, you’ll have a whopping £10,000 towards your first home at the end of year one. You can boost your savings even further by opening a LISA with a competitive interest rate. The Tembo Lifetime ISA offers a market-leading 4.75% AER (variable) interest rate - over five years, that would increase your deposit by hundreds versus the next best available rate!
Another reason to save a house deposit with Tembo is our Team Up feature. It’s basically like two-player mode for your first home. Whether you’re buying a home with your partner, best friend or sibling, the Tembo Lifetime ISA app lets you track your progress towards your house deposit goal together.
We’ll also show you your time to buy - a personalised countdown showing how long it could take to save your deposit. You’ll also get money saving ideas to help you achieve your savings goals sooner! Get started here
Important!
When you’re ready to buy, you’ll need to ask your solicitor to withdraw your LISA savings for you. If you withdraw the money yourself, you’ll be charged a 25% fee on the amount you withdraw, meaning you may get back less than you paid in. You can withdraw the money from your Cash ISA at any time, without needing to involve your solicitor.
What if you’re buying with someone who isn’t a first-time buyer?
You don’t need to be a first-time buyer to open a Lifetime ISA, but you do need to be a first-time buyer to use it towards a property purchase. So if you’re a first-time buyer and you’re buying a home with someone who has owned a property before, only the bonus from your LISA can be used for the property purchase.
If the person you’re buying with already had a LISA, any progress they’ve made hasn’t gone to waste! They can access their LISA savings and the government bonus at age 60 to fund retirement, without paying any withdrawal fees.
Learn more: The essential guide to buying with a second-time buyer
Can a couple use a LISA and a Help to Buy?
Yes, if you’ve got a LISA and your partner’s got a Help to Buy ISA (or vice versa) you can buy a house together, as long as the property meets the requirements of both schemes. A Lifetime ISA lets you buy a home worth up to £450,000 anywhere in the UK. A Help to Buy ISA, on the other hand, has a limit of £450,000 in London and £250,000 everywhere else.
(Take a look at our guide to the differences between a LISA and a Help to Buy ISA to learn more).
So what does this mean for you? Well, if you’re buying a home in London, you can combine your Lifetime ISA and Help to Buy ISA to purchase a house worth up to £450,000. If you’re buying a home outside of London, you’ll need to find a cheaper property so that you don’t go over the £250,000 Help to Buy ISA limit.
Struggling to find a home within the £250,000 budget? We have a solution. You can boost your budget by moving your Help to Buy ISA funds to a Lifetime ISA. You’ll also be able to save £4,000 a year instead of Help to Buy’s £2,400 a year limit, increasing your annual bonus to up to £1,000. Switch to Tembo’s Lifetime ISA and you and your partner can make the most of our Team Up feature too!
If you do transfer your Help to Buy ISA to a Lifetime ISA, you’ll need to have your LISA for a full 12 months before you use the bonus to buy a property. So if you’re hoping to buy in the next few months, you’ll need to decide what’s most important: getting on the property ladder sooner or buying a more expensive home.
What if you’re buying a house alone?
If you’re buying a house alone, you can only use one Lifetime ISA. If you’re able to save more than £4,000 a year, you could place any additional savings in a Cash ISA and use the funds from both for your property purchase. You’ll still earn tax-free interest on the money held in your ISA, but you’ll only get the 25% government bonus on the money held in your LISA.
Save for your first home faster with the market-leading Cash Lifetime ISA
Save up to £4,000 per tax year in our Cash Lifetime ISA that comes with a market-leading* 4.75% AER interest rate (variable). Plus, get a 25% government bonus of up to £1,000 per tax year to boost your first home deposit. Download our app and start by adding just £1.
