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Lifetime ISA

This page includes Skipton's standard documents for use by solicitors or licensed conveyancers.

Lifetime ISA for a First House Purchase

The Lifetime ISA can be used for first home purchase without incurring the 25% government withdrawal charge, as long as the withdrawal occurs at least 12 months after the first payment into the account.

If your client has transferred to us from another Lifetime ISA provider, the 12 months starts from the date of their first payment into the original Lifetime ISA. If your client has transferred into a Lifetime ISA from a different type of ISA, the 12 months begins from the first payment into the Lifetime ISA, not the original ISA.

The purchase price of the property must not exceed £450,000 and the property must be purchased in the UK with a mortgage, but not a Buy to Let mortgage. Your client must occupy the property as their main residence immediately on completion.

You can find more information on LISA House Purchases on gov.uk.

Withdrawal for First House Purchase Process

The earliest funds can be withdrawn is 30 days before the completion date. We've explained below the process for withdrawing funds from a Lifetime ISA for a first house purchase.

  • Request the withdrawal

    The Lifetime ISA customer signs the Lifetime ISA Investor Declaration [PDF] requesting the withdrawal and passes this to you.

  • Complete the ISA declaration

    You complete the Lifetime ISA Conveyancer Declaration [PDF], send this to us by email or post along with the Lifetime ISA Investor Declaration. These can be sent by email to lisahousepurchase@skipton.co.uk or sent by post to:

    Savings Operations
    Skipton Building Society
    Principal Office
    The Bailey
    Skipton
    BD23 1DN.

  • We'll check your credentials

    On receipt of these, we’ll check your credentials and we may call you to confirm the request. Following confirmation of this, we‘ll get in touch with the customer to tell them we’ve received this request and ask them to confirm their acceptance to authorise the payment of funds directly to you.

  • We'll pay the funds

    On receipt of the customer’s acceptance, we carry out the withdrawal, paying the funds to you.

When the purchase completes

Once the property purchase has been completed, you should inform us, either by post or email. This must be done within 10 business days of the completion date.

The information required for us to report this is:

  • Account number of the Lifetime ISA which the funds were withdrawn from
  • The name and both previous and current address of the account investor
  • Date of purchase completion
  • Your unique conveyancer reference number, with the appropriate professional body.

You can also inform us by completing the House Purchase progress form [PDF], and returning this to investmentadmin@skipton.co.uk.

If there is a delay in the completion of the house purchase

HMRC regulations state that the purchase must be completed within 90 days of you receiving the funds from the customer’s Lifetime ISA. If the sale is not expected to complete within this time period you must contact us to request an extension for a further 60 days to allow the completion to go through. You can also request a further 30 days extension at the end of the additional 60 days if required.

You can do this via email, post or using the House Purchase progress form [PDF]. This must include the following details:

  • Account number of the Lifetime ISA which the funds were withdrawn from
  • The name and address of the account investor
  • Your unique conveyancer reference number, with the appropriate professional body
  • Anticipated date of completion.

If the house purchase fails

The LISA regulations state that you have 90 days, from the day the funds are received to complete on the house purchase. If the house purchase is no longer progressing and the sale has fallen through you must inform us within 10 business days of the end of the 90 day period for completion (or the end of the extension period if you've been granted an extension).

You can do this via email, post or using the House Purchase progress form [PDF]. This must include the following details:

  • A declaration that the purchase has not completed
  • The amount of the withdrawal that is due to be returned and, if it is not the full amount, details of the shortfall
  • The name and address of the account investor
  • The account number of the Lifetime ISA from which the withdrawal was made
  • Your unique conveyancer registration number, with the appropriate professional body
  • A declaration, to the best of your belief and knowledge, as to whether any of the requirements for a charge free withdrawal has not been complied with or any information provided by you or the account investor is not true or complete.

You must return the full amount withdrawn directly to us. If there’s a shortfall in the amount returned, this will be treated as a withdrawal and a government withdrawal charge will be payable.

Please ensure you follow the timescales set out in HMRC’s rules and provide us with the appropriate notifications and information. This will prevent our mutual customer being subject to any government withdrawal charge being applied incorrectly.

Related links

Frequently asked questions

We ask for the completion date so that we are able to process and prioritise the withdrawal for a first house purchase request, however if we do not have this, we will release the funds 30 days after we receive the request. If you submitted a request without a completion date and you now know the completion date, please contact us as soon as possible.

Yes, we can accept both the conveyancer and investor declaration forms via email, giving as much notice as possible. The declaration forms must be sent on separate emails for each customer, due to data protection.

If the account is closed, the account would be reinstated and the bonus paid in. We’d record a break in membership of the Society on the system if your client doesn’t have any other accounts with us. We’d then contact your client to confirm we’ve received the bonus and ask what they’d like to do with the bonus amount received. If the bonus has been received after the house purchase has completed they would have to pay the 25% government withdrawal charge if they choose to withdraw the funds before the age of 60 (the only exceptions being terminal illness or death).

90 days from you receiving the funds from us. If it’s taking longer than 90 days you can write to us to request an extension.

You are able to request withdrawals from the account as many times as your client requires up to completion, there is no minimum withdrawal amount. We’d require completed declarations from both you and your client each time a withdrawal is requested during this process.

The money can only be used for your client's deposit on their first property and it must be purchased with a mortgage (but not a Buy to Let mortgage), on a property with a purchase price of £450,000 or less. Otherwise, the 25% government withdrawal charge would apply.

If both parties are first time buyers, both can use the Lifetime ISA to put towards the purchase of the home without paying a withdrawal charge.

If one party is a first time buyer, but the other has owned a property before then the non-first time buyer will not be able to use their Lifetime ISA (if they’ve opened a Lifetime ISA too) towards the purchase of the home without paying a government withdrawal charge. However, the first time buyer would still be able to use their own Lifetime ISA towards the price of the home that both parties are buying together.

In both cases the price of the home the clients are buying together must not exceed £450,000 if they wish to use a Lifetime ISA towards it without paying a government withdrawal charge.

The purchase price of your client's first home must not exceed £450,000 and the property must be purchased in the UK with a mortgage, but not a Buy to Let mortgage. Your clients must occupy the property as their main residence immediately on completion.

Please note

If the client(s) are a UK Crown employee serving overseas they must intend to reside in the UK and use the property as their main residence in the future.