To pay off your Help to Buy equity loan, you repay Homes England a percentage of your home’s current market value that matches the share you originally borrowed. The process runs through four steps: get an independent RICS valuation, hire a conveyancer, submit an application with a £200 fee to Homes England, and have your conveyancer transfer the funds. You can clear the loan in full, chip away at it with partial repayments of at least 10%, or remortgage to cover the balance.
What You’ll Actually Owe
The figure you repay is not the amount you borrowed. It is the same percentage share applied to whatever your home is worth today.1GOV.UK. Help to Buy: Equity Loan
Say you took a 20% equity loan on a £200,000 home. You borrowed £40,000. If the home is now worth £250,000, you owe 20% of that figure, which is £50,000. If the same home has fallen to £180,000, you owe £36,000, less than you originally borrowed.2GOV.UK. A Guide to Repaying Your Help to Buy: Equity Loan
That link to market value is why timing matters, and it is also why the valuation step is not a formality. You must repay in full when you sell, when you pay off your main mortgage, or when the 25-year loan term ends, whichever comes first.1GOV.UK. Help to Buy: Equity Loan
Your Three Repayment Options
Full Repayment
A full repayment clears the equity loan in a single transaction. You pay the government the full percentage share of your home’s current value. Homes England then removes its legal charge from your property, and no further interest accrues.
Partial Repayment (Staircasing)
If you cannot afford to clear the loan in one go, you can reduce the government’s share through partial repayments, sometimes called staircasing. The minimum partial repayment is 10% of your home’s current market value.3GOV.UK. Repay Your Help to Buy: Equity Loan On a £250,000 home, the smallest partial repayment is £25,000, which cuts the government’s stake by 10 percentage points.
Each partial repayment lowers the percentage that future interest is calculated against, so even one instalment reduces your ongoing costs. You can make several partial repayments over time until the loan is cleared, but each one needs its own RICS valuation and goes through the full application process.
Remortgaging
Many borrowers repay by taking out a larger mortgage that covers the existing mortgage balance plus the equity loan settlement. Your new lender must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and the lender’s fees cannot exceed £2,000, or Homes England may refuse to approve the remortgage.4GOV.UK. How to Remortgage Your Help to Buy Home and Borrow More Money
Homes England caps the loan-to-value on the new mortgage based on the size of your original equity loan:
- 10% equity loan: maximum LTV of 85%
- 20% equity loan: maximum LTV of 75%
- 30% equity loan: maximum LTV of 65%
- 40% equity loan (London): maximum LTV of 55%
Remortgaging tends to work best once you have built up equity through mortgage payments or a rise in property value.4GOV.UK. How to Remortgage Your Help to Buy Home and Borrow More Money Your conveyancer prepares a Deed of Postponement, which Homes England must approve, so the new mortgage takes priority as the first charge on your property.
The Process, Step by Step
Get a RICS Valuation
Before any repayment, you need an independent valuation from a surveyor registered with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Homes England will not accept a valuation prepared for a bank or mortgage lender. The report has to be produced specifically for the equity loan repayment.5GOV.UK. How to Get a Valuation of Your Help to Buy Home
The report is valid for three months. If you do not complete the repayment inside that window, you can ask the same surveyor for a desktop valuation to extend it, but you must request the extension within two weeks of the original report expiring. The desktop report then gives you another three months from the original expiry date. Miss that second window and you pay for a fresh valuation.5GOV.UK. How to Get a Valuation of Your Help to Buy Home
Hire a Conveyancer and Submit the Application
You need a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to handle the legal side. They deal with Homes England, process the funds transfer, and make sure the legal charge on your property is properly discharged.6GOV.UK. How to Repay Your Equity Loan Using Your Own Money
Complete the Help to Buy: Equity Loan repayment application form, which asks for your property address, your conveyancer’s contact details, and authority for the conveyancer to act for you. If you are repaying with your own funds rather than a remortgage, include evidence of where the money is coming from. The form, the RICS valuation, and a £200 administration fee are submitted together by email to Homes England.7GOV.UK. Help to Buy: Equity Loan Repayment Application Form
Redemption Letter and Completion
Homes England reviews the application and, once everything is in order, aims to send a redemption letter to you and your conveyancer within four weeks. The letter confirms the final settlement figure.8GOV.UK. Help to Buy: Equity Loan Repayment Application Checklist
Your conveyancer then sends Homes England a letter of undertaking with the completion date, the home’s value, and an agreement to pay the correct amount. Homes England responds with an Authority to Complete confirming the payment date and figure. Your conveyancer transfers the funds on the agreed date, whether from your savings or from a new mortgage lender.8GOV.UK. Help to Buy: Equity Loan Repayment Application Checklist
Once payment is received, Homes England removes its legal charge from your property title at HM Land Registry.9HM Land Registry. Practice Guide 31: Discharges of Charges Your conveyancer sends a completion statement on headed paper confirming the account is closed.6GOV.UK. How to Repay Your Equity Loan Using Your Own Money Interest stops from that point.
Costs to Budget For
Beyond the repayment itself, you should plan for:
- The £200 administration fee to Homes England, payable with the application. Any arrears on your account must also be cleared at this stage.6GOV.UK. How to Repay Your Equity Loan Using Your Own Money
- The RICS valuation. Fees vary by property size and location, but typically range from roughly £250 to £500. You need a new valuation for each repayment, and a second one if the first expires without a desktop extension.
- Conveyancer fees, usually several hundred pounds, and higher if you are remortgaging at the same time.
If you are remortgaging, factor in your new lender’s arrangement fees, remembering that the total lender fees must stay below £2,000 for Homes England to approve the deal.4GOV.UK. How to Remortgage Your Help to Buy Home and Borrow More Money
Why Timing Matters
For the first five years, you pay no interest on the equity loan, only a £1 monthly management fee. From year six, interest starts at 1.75% of the amount you originally borrowed, and the rate rises every April.1GOV.UK. Help to Buy: Equity Loan
How much it rises depends on when you bought. Under the 2021–2023 scheme, the rate goes up each year by CPI plus 2%.1GOV.UK. Help to Buy: Equity Loan Under the earlier 2013–2021 scheme, it rises by RPI plus 1%, with a guaranteed minimum rise of 1% a year even if RPI falls.10GOV.UK. Help to Buy Buyers Guide Those annual increases compound.
Timing also cuts the other way through the value link. In a rising market, waiting means owing more, because your repayment tracks your home’s price. In a falling market, waiting can reduce what you owe. Weigh the interest clock against your local property outlook before deciding whether to repay in full, staircase down, or remortgage now.