No Help to Buy extension for builders struggling to meet completion deadline

The previous version of the Help to Buy scheme closed to new applicants last month, with a revised version opening in its place the next day.

Builders have already been given one extension to the completion deadline for the previous scheme as a result of disruption by the coronavirus, with the deadline moving from 31 December 2020 to 28 February 2021.

However, Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree Paula Barker asked if a further extension would be granted “to enable smaller developers to obtain materials and meet their obligations to buyers”.

Housing minister Christopher Pincher noted that the government recognised there had been disruption hence the two-month extension for building completions deadline with the legal completion deadline for the purchase remaining 31 March 2021.

“However, the government also announced some additional flexibility to protect existing reservations made before 30 June 2020,” he said.

“These sales, by agreement with Homes England, must reach practical completion by 30 April 2021 and legal completion no later than 31 May 2021.”

He added: “There are no plans to extend the current Help to Buy scheme beyond 31 March 2021 and a new two-year Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme for first time buyers commences on 1 April 2021.”