Help To Buy Avis 

I have been trying to get through for weeks! I have spent hours on the telephone but no one answers! I have sent numerous emails again no one answers! I am trying to pay back my help to buy loan but getting absolutely no where and am just waiting on use.

Been trying to complete the subletting application form for four months. Generic replies to emails saying things are on the system then hear nothing else from them. It’s been over a month since I last got through to them on the phone and given more hoops to jump through which I did and despite emails asking for updates on the decision I just get the same generic reply as normal and can’t get through on the phone regardless of what time of day I try. Sit on hold for an hour before being cut off - this is everyday for the past week! I don’t know how the behavior of this company can be classed as lawful!

We have been trying to complete our change of borrowers/equity since November 2023, we have been approved to do this by our mortgage provider, Santander, since February 2024. Help To Buy have taken since that time to process our application.

Our solicitor and ourselves have done everything we needed to (forms, assessments, providing copies of payslips etc.), almost immediately after being requested, definitely way before any form of deadline. However, due to Help To Buy's incompetence, our mortgage offer has now expired and Santander won't let us extend it and state we need to start a new application, essentially meaning we must start again.

This is no fault of Santander's, no fault of our solicitor, and no fault of ours. This is due to Help To Buy's inability to do their job. It should NOT take nearly 9 months to process a change of borrowers application.

There have been occasions where our solictor have completed forms for them, whilst on the phone to them, so that she could be talked through it, to ensure that no mistakes were made and no delays would occur - yet despite her following Help To Buy's direct instructions, they still come back saying there are issues with how the form is completed. Not only that, but we don't find our there's things that need rectifiying unless we ring up Help To Buy - they don't tell us themselves without us/our solicitor chasing.

Help To Buy are one of the worst companies I've ever dealt with, if not the worst. Because of them, we have wasted nearly a whole year trying to get this sorted, delaying the lives of four separate parties as well as causing a terrible amount of stress.

If i could give 0 stars I would. Absolutely disgraceful, and we are no closer to getting this resolved.

Edit 22.10.24... heard nothing from HTB despite their comment below. Our solicitor has been trying the last three days to get in touch with them, and it cuts her off after waiting on hold for an hour. She finally got through today, had to send ALL the documents again (bare in mind, they've had them for months), and said they'll be in touch with an update - I hold little hope. Absolutely disgraceful.

Edit 06.02.25 - still not completed! Help To Buy are disgraceful. 14 months and counting.

It has been incredibly stressful getting my application sorted out through Help To Buy and there were a lot of back and forth emails to the point where my application wasn't getting progressed. It's been a whole month, but thankfully Connor G helped me put through my application and he did everything with me on the phone. A big shout out to him, I don't think I could have gotten this mess sorted without him.

Wish I could give 0 stars. Been on hold 3 times this week and not yet managed to get through. I even called at 8am thinking that would make a difference but alas no. I have had 5 automated emails telling me they have received my email but what good is that. Clearly they delay, delay, delay to make sure they squeeze extra money out of you at at time when money is more important than ever. Absolute disgrace. I've seen some of the 5 star reviews on this page but can only assume they are fabricated so beware.

Possibly the worst company on this planet. Completely incompetent, waiting for 60mins to answer. Don’t know own procedures, simply telling you random things you need to do otherwise you’re not gonna proceed with your redemption. Trapping people in the worst possible way. Absolutely awful - ruining peoples lives. In dispute with ombudsman now, hopefully will be able to get stolen money reimbursed.

Can’t get through to them for 2 weeks!!! They completely ignore my emails, literally, don’t even bother. When I called them they didn’t pick up for 30 mins, I tried on 4 separate days. It looks like there is not a single person working there…

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Got through today, so changing to 4 stars. Apparently you just need to keep waiting and at 30+ minute mark they usually pick up. Didn’t get help on the phone but got a helpful email reply after my call.

After 7 months with them trying to deal with a simple transfer of equity with multiple mistakes being made on their end, I’m now stuck in unsuitable rented accommodation at 30 weeks pregnant. I can’t complete on my house purchase because of them.

They have had multiple attempts at sealing a deed of release both times so far it’s been sealed with the wrong information. They have failed to admit their mistakes and apparently can’t speed up the process even though there is now formal complaints again them and the legal ombudsman are investigating them.

Every time I speak to an operator I am given completely different information each time and every time they say they will update me by email I have received nothing back.

Formal complaints have been left ignored for months and when they have been questioned about it they said they can’t do anything unless I put in a new complaint. I am now on my third complaint and so far nothing as been actioned.

They are causing daily stress and my mental health is being affected but none of them seem to care. I’m worried this stress is effecting my unborn child.

Absolute awful company, avoid at all costs. I certainly will never recommend them to anyone.

Updated 26/09/24: still no updates from help to buy and had nothing back from them regarding the complaints. The deeds team have been chased once this week and once last week and nothing has been resolved.

Ryan.N was wonderful today to help me process everything that I needed to. Ryan was patient and understanding. I can go into my weekend now feeling a sense of relief! Thanks Ryan.N

Having phoned in and waited on hold for half an hour, I got through to Elise P, who was highly efficient, professional and informative. Elise guided me through what I needed to send and waited as I emailed in the relevant documents. Elise then allocated my fee, processed my application and emailed both myself and my solicitor with the redemption letter and legal pack, whilst we were on the call. I am now clear as to how the process works and greatly reassured that the next steps can be executed in a much quicker time frame than first thought, as long as I call in again when the letter of undertaking has been sent back in. Elise's consciencious effort during the call has certainly expediated the process. She also kindly advised that the quietest period to call in is usually between 6-8pm.

After reading so many reviews on here that were bad I called up thinking for sure I’d be waiting for hours and have absolutely no help but I was really wrong. The hold time was about half an hour which isn’t too bad for any company. I got through to a helpful lady called Ellie who expedited my help to buy redemption form. Advice for people who are waiting for replies from emails for months - just give them a call and they will reduce any stress you had! I was so stressed about this but Ellie was super helpful and got things going in the right direction almost immediately.

I would like to write this review about an experience I had with Misbah A who was incredibly helpful and patient when I spoke to him. We often get frustrated with these companies, but wonderful staff like this make a huge difference. Thank you Misbah

I started the process of trying to pay my help to buy loan off in Jan 24 - got an RISC valuation done £524, appointed a conveyance solicitor £75 deposit (total if completed £675) and sent my application to Help to buy and after 2 months of chasing on phone and emails paid the £200 admin fee to get the redemption certificate. Waited, emailed, phoned and still got nowhere. Nothing except annoying emails saying i hadnt included my personal details even though i had, and then was told i had to get another RISC valuation as it had expired. I was horrified - it had expired due to their incompetence of untimely and most time no responses. In May i emailed a complaint to them. 4 weeks later i received a response from their complaint’s Manager to say he was looking into it. 8 weeks later i received another email saying he was still looking into it but as it had been 8 weeks i could send my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. I did this in July. I cannot understand after reading all these reviews, and knowing my own experience, how a Government dept, albeit run by an agency, can get away with having such appalling customer service who are totally frustrating this process, which should be straightfoward. Even my solicitor was appalled by their behaviour. I put my house up for sale but have took it off the market because i cant seem to be able to pay my help to buy loan off so not really in a position to sell, even though i have followed everything the HMRC website says i should do. I dont usually complain but i really dont understand how this can be happening and seems no one is doing anything about this rediculous process.

After 25 minutes of hold music I got throught to Lucy H who was phenomenal. We had to exchange on the same day and Lucy H ensured we got there, keeping me informed brilliantly, advising me of next steps and really going above and beyond to get our sale over the line. This was not a simple case but Lucy made it happen and saved the day. Thank you again!

Great example of top quality customer service. Everyone I spoke to was very friendly, helpful and efficient. Customer service centres can often be very unfriendly and not a great deal of help. The help to buy team most definitely buck this trend.

Very happy customer

My solicitor kindly informed me that I was required to initiate the help to buy process for the sale of my property just weeks before completion which sent me into a blind panic.

I have had to call the helpline a few times in the past week for assistance with this. Trinity and Torin have been really helpful at helping me get my application progressed.

The reason for 4 stars rather than 5 is on two occasions I have had a bit of a wait on hold and also the email system which appears to be part automated is really unhelpful!

I hope the rest of the process is just as simple!

Help to Buy needs to be shut down, they're a joke. Dealing with them is causing so much anxiety and frustration. We're stuck in limbo due to their failings. I advise anyone to stay away, if you cant afford you house, save for another 6 months, it'll be the best decision you ever make. They might seem helpful to begin with and a good idea but trust me, its not worth the hastle when you come to sell or need a transfer of equity, they just dont want to help at all. They never respond to emails. The agents on the phone haven't got a clue.
We started a transfer of equity back in December last year. Their so called "agents" gave us the wrong information. They told us that my partner couldn't be transferred onto the loan as she's owned a propery in the past which is incorrect. We almost put our house on the market and sold due to this mistake. Our mortgage provider Virgin advised us that this was incorrect, so we got in touch again and this time the agent told us we could proceed. However, we'd lost a month going back and forth with emails at this point. Only 4 months left on our new mortgage offer now.
Next issue was getting all the paperwork sorted. The first agent provided us with a list of 4 items they wanted. So after believing we had everything together we got in touch with them again only to receive another email with 14 documents to send in. After getting all of those items together we sent them in only to be told that some forms had been signed when they were supposed to be unsigned. More time wasted going back to our solicitor to get unsigned coppies of the forms. The next issue was our proof that we dont need a deed of postponement wasn't signed by an individual person. Our mortgage provider does not put individual peoples names and signatures on their forms. Everything is signed by the Virgin Money Team or just Virgin. It took another 2 weeks to get a signed letter from Virgin.
At last we have all the paperwork sent off, only 10 weeks now until our mortgage offer expires but "dont worry" their agent said, itll take a maximum of 8 weeks to sort all this out, you've got plenty of time.
Several weeks passed and our Deed of Release arrives at the solicitors. No cover letter, nothing explaining who its for or what it is. This just shoved it in an envelope and sent it off. Its a good thing we went with a smaller solicitor as this would have been lost with a larger company.
Another 5 weeks pass and we hit the 8 week mark, still no Deed of Release. I ask the agent if we need to extend the mortgage offer but they say its fine, we dont need to. So we carry on waiting, calling every week to get chaser email after chaser email sent off to which we get absolutely no replies back. One agent says that the Deed is in the final stages of the sealing process, this was a complete lie. Another 8 weeks pass before they come back and say they want the mortgage offer extended. At this point the mortgage has already been transfered into my partners name and there's no way of going back and a new mortgage offer cant be provided. We are now stuck with Virgin unable to provide a mortgage offer and Help to Buy not going any further without an offer. How exactly are we supposed to get out of this situation? I've never struggled with my mental health before but now I am struggling, we are stuck, uncertain about our future, wether we will have to sell our home, if we even can sell our home atvthis stage is uncertain.
Their complaints departments dont care in the slightest, a complaint was sent in weeks ago, I still havent had a reply from them. I called to see if they had received it and apparently complaints arent valid unless they're given over the phone, I've never heard anything like this. The agent took my complaint but said its only valid from the day I called in, not the day I emailed in and they also arent able to do anything with ongoing cases. So do I have to wait for my case to fall through and im forced to sell my house to receive my letter of appology from Help to Buy? Where will they send it to when I've got no home to live in?
Get your act together Help to Buy, I am not the only one having issues, these are people lives you're messing with.

Currently on hold for the 4th time today. Each time I do get through, they cut me off! I'm only calling because I'm having zero response to emails.
I'm trying to process a transfer of equity which we started in April but now we have radio silence and my mortgage offer expires in a month. I fear their delays will mean that I have to start the process over again, incurring more fees. Surely someone can resolve this? They were keen to take my money to process this but seemingly not to do he work!

If I could put 0 stars I would, have had outstanding complaint since September 2023 after losing money due to the failings of Lenvi. It had been 10 months since complaint and over a year since starting process with them to get a deed of postponement to move mortgage providers which was significantly delayed.
Customer service never able to help with clear answers and silence from complaints department is deafening.
Unable to speak to anyone in complaints dept to finalise on final outcome, phone line is either closed (despite the opening times on their correspondence) or will not connect, no emails answered.

Update 20th August 2024: still no contact made despite reply from Help to Buy below

Currently waiting for a DS1 discharge document in order to sell my house. They say that this one is a manual discharge rather than an electronic this is what's taking the time. They say they are understanding and apologetic however they don't give you any reassurance when this is going to be done. It's with a specialist team they say and they can't phone them or email them. They can only raise an urgent request every 5 working days. The specialist team has had the document since March, yes SINCE MARCH. If it took me that long to complete a task at work I'd be sacked.

I just don't understand why companies these days have such archaic procedures and processes when it comes to people's money and house sales. It's just totally unacceptable. Will continue chasing until it is done.