Harvey Fremlin, NSBRC Managing Director, says “The National Self Build & Renovation Centre welcomes this news as we believe the Help to Build scheme can help make owning a well-built home more accessible – similar to the successful ‘Help to Buy’ scheme which led to over 300,000 first-time buyers who previously couldn’t afford a deposit”.
As the Prime Minister stated last year: “We know that self and custom build delivers high-quality, well-designed homes, that are energy efficient, accessible, affordable and welcomed by their communities”.
Custom build and self build homes are not just for people who have owned or built a home before. Help to Build can make building your own home a realistic choice, even if you have a small deposit.
A custom build or self build home means that you can decide on the:
- Design – building in features that suit your lifestyle, such as energy efficiency and smart technology.
- Internal layout – designing a home that will suit your family’s specific needs.
- Location – homes can often be the size and scale you want, built on smaller plots of land available for development in the area you want to live.
Help to Build can offer you an equity loan based on the estimated costs to buy a plot of land and build the home. The equity loan amount can be between 5% to 20% (up to 40% in London) of the total estimated cost.
If you’re eligible, you can spend up to £600,000 on your new home. This must include the cost of the land if you don’t already own it, and no more than £400,000 on the cost to build it.
You will have 3 years to buy the land (if not already owned) and build the home once approved.
No interest is applied for the first five years. Interest payments commence in year 6 and do not go towards repaying the equity loan.
Repayment is linked to the market value of the home at the time, and not the original loan value.
£1 monthly management fee will be charged for the lifetime of the equity loan.
The equity loan is repaid in full at the end of the term, when you sell your home, or you can repay any time before.
You can apply for Help to Build if you:
- are 18 years of age or over, and have a right to live in England
- will live in the newly-built home as your only home
- secure a self build mortgage from a lender registered with Help to Build
You can find out more about Help to Build at the Own Your Home website.
How long is the scheme open for?
Help to Build funding is available for 4 years, from when applications open. If demand is higher than expected, funding may become unavailable sooner.
How long will the process take?
If you accept the offer of an equity loan from Help to Build, you’ll have 3 years to buy the land (if needed) and build your home.
Eligibility checks
You can apply for Help to Build if you: are 18 years of age or over and have a right to live in England, will live in the newly-built home as your only home, and you secure a self build mortgage from a lender registered with Help to Build. When you apply, Homes England will carry out eligibility checks, including making sure that you can afford the equity loan payments.
Download the prospectus
The scheme will provide a huge boost for the self and custom build sector by providing a route to work for SME house builders, helping to level up communities across the country. Government believes that the scheme has the potential to deliver up to 40,000 new homes a year.
You can download a pdf of the prospectus here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1035681/Help_to_Build_Prospectus.pdf
