Help to Build – financial help to self-build!
The government has just launched a new Help to Build scheme, to help people wishing to self-build their home in England; applications can now be made.
For many the dream to build a home of their own remains just that, a dream. Funding a self-build requires a significant capital, which can be a challenge, especially at the initial stage. The scheme can form part of a financing package, for some making a significant difference.
How Help to Build works
Through Help to Build, once your self-build home is built, the equity loan is paid to your mortgage lender to reduce the amount of repayment mortgage you need. No interest is charged for the first 5 years, with interest triggered from year 6, until repaid.
A loan of between 5% and 20% (up to 40% in London) of the estimated costs to buy the land (if needed) and build your new home can be obtained. If eligible, the total spend can be up to £600,000. The cost of the land must be included if not already owned, with a maximum of £400,000 building costs.
Peregrine Mears Architects emphasised the appeal of a self-build project. “Building your own home offers so many opportunities and we love sharing the journey with our clients. There are challenges but that is why we are there, to advise and guide. The design can personalised. It’s so exciting; clients come to us with a wish-list – this is always different and so telling, and always so helpful, to guide conversations. This may be accommodation priorities, styles, materials, energy efficiencies, garaging and parking arrangements, incorporating smart technology and many more things. Invariably the long list grows before conversations start to give a direction and focus. Clearly a key priority is the financial budget and this naturally guides most decisions. The fact that 20% of a project cost is now potentially provided by the government via the Help to Build initiative is a huge boost to self-builders.”
Peregrine Mears Architects