A helping hand for house buyers

The desire to get on the property ladder in the UK shows no signs of abating, despite prices continuing to rise and demand far outstripping supply at the moment.

The biggest barrier is, of course, cost. Many people, in particular first-time buyers, struggle to get together enough to put down as a deposit once they've found a place they want to buy.

There are several government-backed schemes that can offer help depending on your circumstances. We outline them here.

In this scheme, the Government will lend a buyer up to 20 percent of the cost of a newbuild home. This means you only need to find a 5 percent cash deposit while a 75 percent mortgage will cover the rest of the cost of buying.

There are no fees charged on the Government's loan in the first five years of you owning the property with an interest fee of 1.75 percent levied after five years, rising annually by the same increase (if any) as the Retail Prices Index. The maximum you can borrow is £120,000 and up to £240,000 in London. The Government's 20 percent stake in your home must be repaid when the property is sold.

You can save money in a Help to Buy ISA (individual savings account) and the Government will give you a £50 bonus for every £200 you put away. The maximum amount you can receive is £3,000.

For those who cannot afford to service the mortgage on 100 percent of a home, Shared Ownership lets you buy between 25 and 75 percent of the property and pay rent on the remainder. At a later point, when you can afford to, you can then buy out that share of the house.

Shared ownership is available to those who earn less than £80,000 a year outside of London or less than £90,000 in London, and also to first-time buyers. The scheme can be used to buy a newbuild from participating builders or from a housing association.

Information on this and all other Government help-to-buy schemes are available here.

However you finance your new home, you can rely on Homeward Legal to put you in touch with a specialist conveyancer or conveyancing solicitor to ensure your transaction is completed without any unnecessary delays.

Our fixed-price service means you will know up front exactly what your conveyancing costs will be with with no hidden extras or unexpected nasty surprises waiting. We also give you a "no completion, no fee" guarantee so that if your transaction is not completed for any reason, you will not be out of pocket.

Call our expert team at Homeward Legal now on . We're open seven days, meaning you will never be out of touch with what's going on with your transaction. Or click here for an instant, no obligation quote.

If you're a first-time buyer, check out Homeward Legal's comprehensive First-Time Buyers' Hub where all your questions about purchasing for the very first time are covered in detail.