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UK first-time buyer schemes 2026

There are schemes available to those who are struggling to become homeowners. These attempt to make it easier for you to get your foot on the property ladder, usually by making it easier to get a deposit or artificially lowering how much you need for your deposit.

The schemes available can depend on your region, and each will have qualifying criteria, but here’s a rundown of the main options:

• Lifetime ISA (LISA). Save up to £4,000 per year and receive a 25% government bonus (up to £1,000 annually) to use toward your deposit on a home worth up to £450,000.
• Mortgage Guarantee Scheme. A government-backed initiative that encourages lenders to offer 95% mortgages, allowing you to buy with just a 5% deposit on properties worth up to £600,000.
• First Homes Scheme (England). Offers local first-time buyers and key workers a discount of 30% to 50% on the market value of new-build homes, with the discount staying with the property forever.
• Shared Ownership (England). Purchase a share of a property (usually between 10% and 75%) and pay rent on the remaining portion, with the option to buy more shares (“staircasing”) later.
• LIFT Open Market Shared Equity (Scotland): Helps you buy a home on the open market by providing a government contribution of up to 40% toward the price, which is repaid when the property is sold.
• Help to Buy (Wales). An equity loan scheme available until September 2026 that provides up to 20% of the cost of a new-build home (up to £300,000), which is interest-free for the first five years.
• Co-Ownership (Northern Ireland). A shared ownership scheme where you buy as much of the home as you can afford (starting from a 50% share) and Co-Ownership buys the rest, applicable to homes worth up to £215,000.
• First-Time Buyer Stamp Duty Relief. In England and Northern Ireland, you pay £0 Stamp Duty on properties up to £300,000. For homes priced between £300,001 and £500,000, you pay a discounted rate of 5% only on the portion above £300,000.

First-time buyers and stamp duty?

If you’re a first-time buyer in England or Northern Ireland, you will pay no stamp duty on properties worth up to £300,000.

For properties priced between £300,001 and £500,000, you pay 5% on the portion above the £300,000 mark. For example, if you buy a home for £400,000, you’ll pay 5% on £100,000—a tax bill of £5,000.

The £500,000 “Cliff Edge”

Be careful: if the property you’re buying is worth over £500,000, you lose first-time buyer relief entirely. You will instead pay standard residential rates, which start much lower at the £125,000 threshold. This means buying a house for £505,000 would result in a significantly higher tax bill than one bought for £500,000.

Shared Ownership

First-time buyers under Shared Ownership schemes can claim relief on homes with a market value of up to £500,000. You can choose to pay stamp duty on the full market value upfront or pay in stages as you buy more shares (“staircasing”). If you choose to pay in stages, you generally don’t pay stamp duty on the rent or the initial lease.

How do I get approved as a first-time buyer?

Here are some simple steps to help improve your chances of mortgage approval as a first-time buyer (FTB):

• Save a bigger deposit. While some lenders still offer 5% deposit mortgages, a larger deposit can improve your approval chances and help you access lower rates.
• Use a Lifetime ISA (LISA). The government adds a 25% bonus on up to £4,000 of savings each tax year for eligible first-time buyers.
• Consider a gifted deposit. Many lenders accept deposits gifted by parents or close family members, provided the money is a genuine gift.
• Apply jointly if appropriate. Joint applications can increase your borrowing power because lenders assess combined income. Just remember all applicants are equally responsible for repayments.
• Improve your credit profile. Pay bills on time, stay within overdraft limits and avoid missed payments before applying.
• Check your credit report. Correct any mistakes and make sure you’re registered on the electoral roll at your current address.
• Reduce existing debts and spending. Lower monthly outgoings can improve affordability assessments and strengthen your application.
• Avoid multiple mortgage applications. Too many hard credit checks in a short period can hurt your credit profile.
• Borrow within your budget. Most lenders typically offer around 4 to 4.5 times your annual income, depending on affordability.
• Use a mortgage broker. Finding the best mortgage broker from a popular sites like Habito or L&C mortgages can help match you with lenders more likely to approve your application and may identify deals not available directly.

Best lenders for first-time buyers

If you’re lucky enough to be able to save up a big enough deposit and afford the mortgage repayments there are plenty of mortgage lenders who will consider lending to you. But, if not, there are a number of specialist mortgage types offered by a more limited number of lenders that are designed to help.

Below, we’ve highlighted some of the lenders offering the best options we found at the time of writing but the best mortgage deal for you will depend on your circumstances and what’s available at the time. It’s a good idea to speak to a mortgage broker (which you can now even do online with companies like Habito or Mojo Mortgages) who can look at the whole market to help you find the best deal. Some products are also only available through brokers.

• Best lenders for standard first-time buyer mortgages

  As lenders tend to offer initial deals over a number of years before moving you onto their higher standard variable rate for the rest of the mortgage term, you should switch to a new deal – either from the same lender or a different one – at the end of the initial period. For this reason, to find the cheapest deal you should look at the total cost (including fees, which can bump up the cost significantly) over this period rather than the whole term.

  The more deposit you have, the cheaper the deals you can generally get.
  If you had a 23% deposit of £49,000 and borrowed £164,000 to buy a £213,000 property (77% loan-to-value) over 25 years using a two-year fixed-rate deal, your initial rate could be as low as 1.55% to 1.7% with the total cost from around £17,050 over the two years. Using this scenario, the cheapest lenders we found were Halifax, HSBC, NatWest, Nottingham Building Society and Post Office Money.

  But if you borrowed the same amount with a loan-to-value of 90%, the best equivalent deals would have initial rates of 2.59% to 2.89% and the total cost of the deal would start from almost £18,400 – a difference of around £1,350. The lenders we found offering the cheapest deals using this scenario were Barclays, Clydesdale Bank, HSBC, Post Office Money and Progressive Building Society.

• Best lenders for first-time buyer Help to Buy mortgages

  The Help to Buy equity loan scheme was launched by the government in 2013 to make buying a newbuild home in England and Wales more affordable.

  You pay a minimum deposit of 5% of the value of the property and the government gives you a loan for up to 20% (40% in London). This means you only need to take out a mortgage for the remaining 75% so will have access to the cheapest deals. You don’t have to pay interest on the 20% loan for the first five years, which makes your repayments more affordable during this period. When you sell the property you pay 20% of the sale price back to the government.

  Not all lenders offer mortgages for Help to Buy but big names that do include Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland, Post Office Money and Santander.

  According to Defaqto, Barclays, Leeds Building Society, Santander, Skipton Building Society and Virgin Money are offering some of the cheapest two-year fixed-rate deals with initial interest rates of 1.59% to 1.83% and product fees of £749 to £999.

• Best lenders for first-time buyer shared ownership mortgages

  With shared ownership you buy a share of a property through a housing association and pay rent on the rest. You can either buy a newly built home or one that is being resold.

  It makes buying the property more affordable because you only need a deposit of 5% of the share you are buying to put towards the mortgage, and the rent you pay on the rest is lower than the usual market rate. You can start by owning just a 25% share but increase it as you can afford to if you wish.

  There’s a Help to Buy shared ownership scheme in England and other schemes throughout the UK. You need to be a first-time buyer or a previous property owner who can’t afford to buy a home outright now.

  Lenders offering good shared ownership mortgage deals include Barclays, HSBC, Hanley Economic Building Society, Nationwide and Santander with rates from 2.85% to 2.99%, according to Defaqto. Most of these don’t have product fees.

• Best lenders for first-time buyer guarantor mortgages

  A guarantor mortgage lets you borrow up to 100% of the property price with a family member, such as parents, using their savings or equity in their property as security for the loan. They will usually be released from this arrangement once certain criteria are met.

  Interest rates range from 2.64% to 5.28% for fixed and variable-rate deals according to Defaqto. Marsden Building Society is currently offering the lowest two-year fixed rates with its Family Step mortgage (although product fees apply), which is only available through brokers. Barclays (with no product fees), Buckinghamshire Building Society, Loughborough Building Society and Mansfield Building Society are also worth a look.

  Marsden is offering the lowest two-year variable rates too. Bath, Buckinghamshire, Loughborough, Mansfield and Tipton & Coseley Building Societies are others to consider. Once again, make sure you take product fees into account when looking at which are the cheapest deals over the initial period.

Application process

1. Research

Before you apply for a mortgage, it’s important that you understand the different types available and how interest on them is calculated. From this, you can work out how much you can borrow based on your savings and your income, using online affordability tools.

2. Speak to a mortgage broker

Speak to a mortgage broker, who will search the market for a deal that is best suited to your situation. But make sure you check that they are on the Financial Services Register first, which will ensure they are properly authorised.

3. Find your property

The next important step is to find a property within the budget you have set out. Once you’ve found this perfect home, go back to the lender and begin the mortgage application. This will involve detailed research into your finances, including earnings, expenditure and a full credit check with a credit reference agency.

After the mortgage: your surveys and conveyancing

Once you’ve had a mortgage offer accepted, you’ll need to do two things:

• Get a property survey sorted
• Hire a solicitor or conveyancer

Property survey

A property survey is an inspection of your property that shows you any problems with it – before you move in. The idea is you face no nasty surprises when you actually buy the place, like finding out you have to do extensive repairs or that there’s damp.

It’s different from a lender’s valuation survey, which your lender uses to check they’re not lending you more money than the property is worth. The lender’s valuation survey is super basic and doesn’t look at potential defects in the property.

If you want an independent check – designed to reassure you, rather than the lender – it’s worth doing your own survey.

The different types of property survey

There are a few different types of survey – here they are ordered from most basic to the deepest inspection.

• Condition Report. a basic survey that’s best for new builds and homes in good condition. Gives you no advice about what repairs you might want to do. Costs around £250.
• Homebuyer’s Report. this one looks for structural problems, like damp, though it doesn’t look beyond the walls or floorboards. Some homebuyer’s reports come with a property valuation that gives you an independant idea of the property price. But not all of them do. This one comes with advice on repairs and maintenance too. Costs start at £400.
• Building Survey. the most comprehensive type of survey, usually for older homes or homes that need repairs. This looks even more closely at the structure of your property and gives you detailed advice on the kinds of repairs it needs. Costs around £400–£500.

If your survey does find problems, don’t panic. That usually happens. You’ll have a number of options for how to proceed. You can get a quote for repairs and see if you feel it’s worth it. Or you could make a lower offer on the property price. If it all feels like too much, you’re still allowed to just walk away – you haven’t signed anything yet!

Conveyancing

The legal side of buying a property is called conveyancing. You’ll need to hire either a solicitor or a conveyancer to handle this for you. It doesn’t matter which!

In Scotland, you’ll need to think about it earlier, because you can only make a formal offer on a property through a solicitor. So you’ll need to hire one before you even start looking at houses.

What does a conveyancer do?

You conveyancer or solicitor will do all the work you need to buy legally and safely. Here are some of the things they’ll do:

• Draw up the contract between you and the seller to actually buy the property
• Comprehensive checks on the property you want to buy – these are called ‘property searches’. They check things like the risk of flooding in your area, and whether your council is planning to build anything major nearby
• Exchange contracts between you and the seller (by talking to the seller’s solicitor)
• Transfer the money to the seller
• Pay your Stamp Duty on your behalf (using your money of course, but making the transfer themselves)

Frequently asked questions

• What documentation will I need?

  What is required will vary between lenders, and may also vary depending on your personal circumstances but the points below are a good starting point:

  • Utility bills.
  • Proof of benefits received.
  • P60 form from your employer.
  • Paylsips for the last three months.
  • Passport or driving licence (to prove your identity).
  • Bank statements of your current account for the last three to six months.
  • Statement of two to three years’ accounts from an accountant if self-employed.
  • Tax return form SA302 if you have earnings from more than one source or are self-employed.
  • Self-employed people should look to provide information alongside their tax return, which supports what the SA302 says about their income, such as bank statements.

• What if my mortgage application is declined?

  There may be a few reasons the lender has declined your application. Firstly, it’s a good idea to check that all the information you provided is correct and that you’ve reviewed everything carefully.

  If you’re not earning enough or you’re spending too much, the lender might have decided that you would not be able to afford your repayments. In this case, it’s wise to rethink the size of the mortgage you are applying for and how to budget your spending.

  One major barrier for getting a mortgage can be your credit history, particularly if you have a history of missed payments, defaults or insolvency. Checking your credit report thoroughly before you apply can help spot any problems that might concern a lender.

  If you do have credit issues, it’s a good idea to ensure all your debts are cleared and try to re-build your credit history by making reliable and regular repayments before applying again.

  It’s also possible to get something called a guarantor mortgage if you cannot secure a mortgage on your own. This is when another person, usually a relative or close friend, agrees to accept responsibility for the debt in the event that you are unable to keep up repayments. Learn more about what to do if your mortgage application is declined.

• Can I get a buy-to-let mortgage?

  Put simply, yes, but you may be limited when it comes to getting a mortgage. The first question to ask is, are you a first-time landlord or a first-time buyer?

  This is key as a large percentage of lenders need you to have owned your own residential property for at least six months before they will offer you a buy-to-let mortgage. Others will only ask that you own a property, so you could have another buy-to-let property while living in rented accommodation.

  However, if you’re a first-time buyer or don’t currently own a property, your mortgage options will be limited.

• What deposit do I need?

  Before looking at properties, you need to save for a deposit. Generally, this should be at least 5–20% of the cost of the home you would like to buy. For example, if you want to buy a home costing £150,000, you’ll need to save at least £7,500. We recommend saving more than 5% if possible, which will give you access to a wider range of cheaper mortgages available on the market.

• How long does it take to get a mortgage?

  The entire mortgage process has several parts, including getting pre-approved, getting the home appraised and getting the actual loan. In a normal market, this process takes about 30 days on average.

  During high-volume months, it can take longer, somewhere between 45 to 60 days, depending on the lender. If any financial issues are discovered in your record such as a low credit score, previous foreclosure or overwhelming debt, getting a mortgage may be a much slower process.