How to repay your equity loan when you sell your home
The process you need to follow to repay your Help to Buy: Equity Loan when you decide to sell your home.
Applies to England
Making changes to your equity loan or repayment mortgage
Before you make any changes to your equity loan or mortgage, you need to understand how those changes may affect you. You should think about getting independent financial and legal advice.
You need to keep paying your management fee, and monthly interest if this is due, until you repay your equity loan.
You’ll need to settle any outstanding payments in full or ask our Customer Service team to set up a payment plan, before they can continue with your request to proceed.
How much you need to repay
When you sell your home to repay your equity loan, the amount you repay will be based on either the market value of your property, or the sale price, whichever is higher.
The market value of your property is worked out by a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) valuation.
If you are paying monthly interest or management fees, you should keep making these payments.
You’ll need to settle any outstanding payments in full, or set up a payment plan with our Customer Service team, before they can continue with your request.
The amount you repay includes interest, fees and any outstanding payments, or arrears. You must repay all of these in full to complete the repayment process.
When you’ve received an offer on your property, or are close to confirming the house sale, you need to follow these steps.
1. Get a surveyor’s valuation report
Before you contact a surveyor, you must tell us about anything that may affect the value of your home, as they may need to agree which RICS surveyor you can use.
This can be things like:
- external cladding
- any breaches of planning permission
- building regulations that have an impact on your property’s value (for example, a conservatory that does not have a building control certificate)
If your property is affected by external cladding
If your block of flats has certain types of external cladding, you may need a specialist valuation of your property.
How the valuation report should be made
You’ll need to:
- send our Customer Service team a RICS valuation report for your property, so they can work out how much you need to repay
- pay for the report yourself
The report must be:
- created, signed and dated by the certified RICS surveyor who made the survey. Find a RICS surveyor in your area.
- on the company’s headed paper addressed to Homes England
- supplied as a PDF file or a digital document that you cannot edit
We cannot accept valuations that are made for bank or mortgage purposes.
Our criteria for the surveyor
You should give the surveyor making the valuation a copy of these criteria.
They must:
- be both RICS qualified and registered
- be independent of any estate agent
- not be related or known to you
- inspect the inside of the property
- provide at least 3 comparable properties and sale prices
These properties must be like-for-like in type, size and age, and within 2 miles of the property that is being inspected.
The report is valid for 3 months from the date it was produced. You must send our Customer Service team the report within 5 working days of the date it was issued. You can do this by post or email.
Post: Help to Buy Customer Service team, PO Box 5262, Lancing, BN99 9HE
Email: customerservices@myhelptobuyloan.co.uk
If the report expires before your property sale completes
If your valuation report expires before you repay your equity loan, you’ll need a ‘desktop valuation’ letter which will extend the original valuation by 3 months.
This letter must be:
- from the same RICS surveyor that made the valuation
- on the company’s headed paper and addressed to Homes England
- supplied as a PDF or a digital document that you cannot edit
If you do not complete the repayment process in the additional 3 months, you’ll need to provide a new valuation report.
If your valuation report is due to expire, we’ll write to you and ask you to get a desktop valuation.
Getting a desktop valuation
The RICS firm who did the original valuation can supply a desktop valuation report without visiting the property in person.
They must:
- refer to the original valuation report
- confirm the updated report is a desktop valuation
- be a surveyor from the same company as the first inspection
- provide at least 6 comparable properties and sale prices from the last year if the property has increased or decreased in value. If 6 are not available, they must state this clearly.
The report must be:
- made within 2 weeks of the expiry date of the original valuation report
- completed, signed and dated by the same RICS surveyor
- on the company’s headed paper and addressed to Homes England
- supplied as a PDF file or a digital document that you cannot edit
This valuation is valid for 3 months from the date it is produced.
We need to receive it within 5 working days of the date it was issued.
If you do not complete the repayment process in the additional 3 months, you’ll need to provide a new valuation report.
If we reject the report
You must make sure your surveyor carries out the valuation in the way we’ve asked.
We may reject the valuation report if it:
- does not follow the instructions
- is too high or low compared to similar properties
If we reject the report, you’ll need to provide and pay for a new report.
If you do not agree with the new valuation
Under the terms of your equity loan agreement, the President of RICS will appoint a RICS surveyor to produce a final valuation.
2. Find a conveyancing solicitor
You must instruct a conveyancer to carry out the various legal processes that are required.
You can find a conveyancing solicitor on the Law Society’s website.
3. Complete the repayment application form
Complete and return the equity loan repayment to our Customer Service team.
Email:
customerservices@myhelptobuyloan.co.uk
Post:
Help to Buy customer services, PO Box 5262, Lancing, BN99 9HE
You must provide your conveyancer’s contact details and give the conveyancer authority to act on your behalf.
You’ll need to send us your RICS market valuation, and memorandum of sale if you’re selling your home.
4. Pay the administration fee and any arrears
You’ll need to pay an administration fee of £200 when you apply to repay your equity loan.
You’ll also have to clear any arrears or outstanding payments.
If you cannot clear your arrears, you may be able to:
- continue with your application if you agree to a payment plan
- clear the arrears before the repayment process completes
Your conveyancer will need to confirm with our Customer Service team if this is possible.
How to pay
You can pay by:
- online bank transfer
- debit card by calling 0300 123 4123
- cheque
You must tell our Customer Service team if you pay online. Email customerservices@myhelptobuyloan.co.uk or call the number above to confirm.
Our Customer Service team is available 9.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (excluding UK public holidays).
Payment details
Bank name: Lloyds Bank PLC
Account name: EQGATEWAY RE HE HELP TO BUY ADMIN
Sort code: 30-80-12
Account number: 24501860
Reference: Your customer reference number or first line of your address and postcode.
5. Receive a redemption letter
We’ll send you and your conveyancer a redemption (repayment) letter after you’ve sent us:
- the RICS valuation report
- your completed application form
- the administration fee
- a copy of the Memorandum of Sale from your estate agent
This letter will confirm:
- that you can repay your equity loan
- the percentage of equity loan you took out
- an estimate of how much your repayments will be, based on the valuation report
The repayment amount will include any outstanding interest, fees and arrears.
When you sell your home to repay your equity loan, the amount you repay will be based on either the market value or the sale price, whichever is higher.
Legal undertaking agreement
We’ll send your conveyancer a list of items they need to put into a ‘legal undertaking’. This is an agreement that is formalised in paperwork.
If the sale completion date on the undertaking is delayed by more than a week, they may need to create a new undertaking and repayment amount.
If the funds from the sale of your home do not cover the total amount due, you’ll need to make an additional payment.
We will not grant an ‘Authority to Complete’ (a form giving you permission to complete your sale and repay your equity loan) until you have repaid everything you owe, or a payment plan is agreed.
Repay your equity loan
We’ll issue the ‘Authority to Complete’ form within 5 days of receiving the legal undertaking from your conveyancer (or when a payment plan has been agreed).
This means you can repay your equity loan and your property sale can complete.
Completing the process
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Your conveyancer transfers the funds to repay your equity loan. The total amount will include any interest, charges, administration fees and arrears that you owe.
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Your conveyancer sends you the relevant completion documents.
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When we receive the funds, we’ll check that the amount matches the figures on the Authority to Complete and inform your solicitor.
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Your solicitor will certify this and send you a ‘completion statement’ on headed paper.
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Once you’ve fully repaid your equity loan and other costs, we’ll apply to the Land Registry to remove the charge on your property.
If you’re paying monthly interest and management fees, you should keep making these payments until the process is complete.
Last updated 23 November 2023 + show all updates
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Guide has been updated to encourage customers to complete an application form before paying an administration fee.
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Contact details updated
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Updates throughout to clarify the role of Homes England's equity loan administrator.
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Added a link to the cladding guidance for Help to Buy homes.
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First published.