Help to Build was a government equity loan for people in England building their own home, or commissioning a builder to build one for them. You can no longer apply for a Help to Build: Equity Loan for properties in England. This page covers what happens if you already have one, and where self-builders can look now.
If you applied before it closed
If your equity loan and mortgage were approved, Homes England will ask whether you still want to go ahead. After you accept, you can start building, and your lender releases the self-build mortgage in stages as the build goes on.
- Build deadline: you have 3 years to build. Homes England allows more time only if the build was delayed by circumstances beyond your control, such as import delays, staff shortages or weather.
- Taking the loan: when the build is finished you decide whether to take the equity loan. If you do, Homes England pays it to your lender once you’ve shown the build warranty, and the lender reduces your mortgage by that amount.
- Fees: £1 a month to the equity loan administrator, from when the loan is paid.
- Interest: none for the first 5 years after the date on the equity mortgage document. In year 6 you pay 1.75% of the amount you borrowed (on an £80,000 loan, £1,400 a year, or £116.67 a month). From year 7 the rate rises each year by the consumer price index plus 2%. Interest doesn’t pay off any of the loan.
If you miss a fee or interest payment you may have to pay recovery costs or interest on it. Questions about an approved loan go to Homes England.
Self-building now
Without Help to Build, a self-build in England is usually paid for with savings and a self-build mortgage, which a lender releases in stages as the build reaches agreed points. These are specialist products, so a broker who arranges them can help. In Wales, the Welsh Government runs its own help for self-builders; there are no government-backed self-build loans in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
If you’re buying rather than building, the schemes still open to first-time buyers are compared in Help to Buy alternatives.
Related guides
- First-time buyers guide: costs, deposits, schemes and stamp duty relief in one place
- Help to Buy alternatives: the schemes that help first-time buyers now, compared
- The First Homes scheme: discounted new homes for first-time buyers
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. PocketWise provides information and guidance, not financial advice. Seek independent mortgage advice before making decisions about borrowing.