Your Home Finance
First-time buyer schemes change the deposit and the tax — not the affordability.
The right scheme usually follows your income and deposit reality rather than the marketing name. Work out what you can borrow first, and the shortlist gets much shorter.
30+ years
first-time buyer advice
Every scheme
assessed honestly
Whole of market
access
Eligibility
checked first
Situation grid
Which scheme question are you actually asking?
How your case is assessed
How schemes actually change a first-time buyer case
Support falls into a small number of categories: help with the deposit, help with the purchase price, help with the tax, or help with the lender's risk. None of them change how much a lender will let you borrow against your income.
Affordability still comes first
Every scheme sits on top of a normal mortgage assessment. Income, commitments and credit history set the borrowing figure, and no scheme raises it. That's why we work out the number before we discuss the options.
Deposit support versus price support
A Lifetime ISA bonus adds to your deposit. Shared Ownership reduces the price you're borrowing against. A discounted-purchase scheme lowers the value you buy at. These are different problems being solved, and only one of them may be yours.
Eligibility rules that catch people out
Property price caps, local connection requirements, new-build-only restrictions, and rules that every buyer on the mortgage must be a first-time buyer. Buying with someone who has owned before can remove a scheme or the tax relief entirely.
The long-term cost of the structure
Rent on a retained share, a resale restriction on a discounted home, service charges on a new-build apartment, or a withdrawal charge on savings used outside the rules. What helps at the start sometimes costs more across ten years.
You don't need to reverse-engineer this from government pages — we'll tell you what you can borrow and which support genuinely improves your position.
Specialist insight
The scheme that suits you depends on which gap you have
Deposit gap · income sufficient for the area
Deposit-side support
Savings bonuses, gifted deposits and small-deposit lending do the work · a share-purchase scheme may add cost you don't need.
Income gap · priced out of the local market
Price-side support
Shared Ownership or a discounted-purchase route reduces what you borrow against · the structure and resale rules become the thing to understand.
Independent reviews
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Your adviser
Jay Sabine
Expert mortgage adviser specialising in complex cases including adverse credit, self-employed borrowers, and first-time buyers. All advice is tailored to your individual circumstances.
Content reviewed: 3 August 2026
CeMAP awarded by The London Institute of Banking & Finance. Cert CII (MP) awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Specialist in first-time buyer schemes and low-deposit routes
Helping clients with complex credit histories for over 30 years · CeMAP, Cert CII (MP) · FCA regulated
“Buyers arrive having read about five schemes and qualifying for one. The useful question isn't which scheme sounds best — it's what your income and deposit actually allow, then which support fits that.”
Reviewed by Jay Sabine · Mortgage adviser · 30+ years' experience
Lived experience
Mistakes we repeatedly see
Not theory — what actually goes wrong when buyers plan around a scheme before checking the numbers.
Building a plan around a closed scheme
Schemes open and close, and the internet doesn't update. Buyers still arrive with a deposit plan built around support that stopped accepting applications years ago.
Choosing the scheme before knowing the borrowing figure
Support that reduces the purchase price is the wrong answer if your problem is the deposit — and the reverse is equally true. The gap has to be identified before the solution is chosen.
Losing the tax relief by buying with the wrong person
First-time buyer Stamp Duty relief requires every buyer to be a first-time buyer. Adding a partner or family member who has owned before removes it completely, which is worth knowing before offers are made.
Using scheme savings outside the rules
Lifetime ISA funds withdrawn for a property above the price cap, or for anything other than a first home before age 60, attract a withdrawal charge that can leave you with less than you put in.
Real client scenarios
Real first-time buyer scheme journeys
Based on genuine cases we've helped with. Personal details have been changed to protect privacy.
Planned around Shared Ownership — didn't need it
- Deposit gap
- Not an income gap
- Standard 90% route
- No monthly rent
Situation
A couple who had spent months looking exclusively at Shared Ownership apartments, assuming full ownership was out of reach.
Challenge
Their income comfortably supported a full purchase in their area. The genuine gap was the deposit — and the scheme they'd chosen would have added rent and service charges for years to solve a problem they didn't have.
What changed
We produced the borrowing figure first, showed what a gifted contribution plus four more months of saving would reach, and compared the ten-year cost of both routes side by side.
Outcome
They bought a full-ownership house at 90% loan-to-value with no rent on a retained share and no resale restrictions.
Why it worked
The scheme was solving the wrong gap. Naming the gap correctly was worth more than any scheme comparison.
Stamp Duty relief nearly lost at offer stage
- Joint purchase
- One prior owner
- Relief at risk
- Structure reviewed
Situation
First-time buyer preparing to buy jointly with a partner who had owned a property some years earlier.
Challenge
They had budgeted on first-time buyer Stamp Duty relief. Because relief requires every buyer to be a first-time buyer, the money they'd allowed for it simply wasn't going to be there.
What changed
We flagged it before offers went in, recalculated the true cost including the standard Stamp Duty, and re-set the target price so completion costs were funded rather than discovered late.
Outcome
They bought slightly below their original ceiling with every cost accounted for, and no shortfall in the week before completion.
Why it worked
Scheme and tax eligibility is a question to ask at the start. Found early it adjusts a budget; found late it breaks one.
What happens after you get in touch
From first contact to a clear answer
What happens when you get in touch — no hard search at this stage.
- 1
We understand your income, deposit, savings so far and the area you're buying in (no hard search)
- 2
Jay establishes what you can realistically borrow before any scheme is considered
- 3
We tell you which schemes you genuinely qualify for, which are closed, and which would cost you more than they save
- 4
If proceeding: Agreement in Principle → offer → application → completion
Reassurance
- Free initial review — before any hard credit search
- We check eligibility before you build a plan around a scheme
- If no scheme applies and a standard mortgage is better, we'll say so plainly
Before you enquire
What we'll ask you on the first call
Straightforward questions — no hard credit search at this stage.
- Your income — employed, self-employed, plus any bonus, commission or overtime
- Deposit saved, where it's held, and anything being gifted by family
- Whether everyone buying with you is a first-time buyer
- The area, property type and rough price range you're aiming at
Advisory promise
When we might tell you to wait
We won't always tell you to apply today.
We may advise waiting where a Lifetime ISA needs to be held longer before the bonus can be used, where a few months of saving would reach a deposit tier that beats any scheme, or where a scheme's resale and rent rules would cost you more than they save.
Support is worth using when it fits. Building your purchase around a scheme that doesn't is how buyers lose months. We'll tell you which applies to you before you plan around it. We give advice — not just applications.
Straight answers
Common questions about first-time buyer schemes
Our promise
What we'll never do
- Tell you to apply if it won't work
- Send applications everywhere
- Recommend borrowing beyond your budget
- Hide bad news
We don't lead with schemes because they sound helpful. We start with what you can borrow, then tell you which support genuinely improves it.
Find out which scheme actually applies to you
Tell us your income, deposit and where you're buying — we'll tell you what you can borrow and which support is realistically available.
Some schemes have closed, some have local eligibility rules, and some cost more over time than they save at the start. We'll tell you which is which.
Knowing which support you qualify for before you view stops you building a plan around help that was never yours.
£500 adviser fee — payable on completion.
Get Clear, Honest Mortgage Advice — Before You Apply
Free consultation • No credit search • FCA regulated
Struggled to get approved elsewhere? We specialise in complex cases including CCJs, self-employed income, and declined applications. Over 90% of our clients had concerns about their situation before speaking to us.
The Basics
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Related guides
First-time buyer support — related decisions
If your purchase depends on which support applies, these chapters go deeper.
First-time buyer
Start here — the borrowing figure and readiness that every scheme sits on top of.
Open guide →
Help to Buy
Where the equity loan scheme now stands, and what to do if you already have one.
Open guide →
Shared Ownership mortgages
How buying a share works, and the long-term costs to weigh against it.
Open guide →
5% deposit mortgages
What a 95% loan-to-value really means — sometimes a better answer than a scheme.
Open guide →