How repaying your Help to Buy loan works
The short answer
Repaying a Help to Buy equity loan runs: RICS valuation → redemption application to the loan administrator → redemption figure issued → your solicitor completes the repayment and the charge is removed. Allow four to eight weeks end to end, plan everything inside the valuation's three-month validity, and line up your funding before you start the clock.
The process, step by step
- 1
Line up the money first
Savings, a remortgage offer in progress, or a sale under way. The valuation clock is three months - starting it before the funding exists is how redemptions end up buying second valuations.
- 2
Book the RICS valuation
An independent RICS-registered valuer, internal inspection, comparables included, report suitable for equity loan redemption. Typically £150 to £350 and back within days - the full requirements are in our valuation cost guide.
- 3
Apply to the loan administrator
Submit the redemption application with the valuation report and the administrator's fee. They check the report meets the rules and calculate your repayment: the loan percentage of the valuation, plus any interest and fees owing.
- 4
Instruct a solicitor
The administrator issues a redemption pack; a solicitor (often the one handling your remortgage or sale) confirms the figures, handles the money and gets the equity charge removed from the title. A few hundred pounds of legal work.
- 5
Complete and confirm
Funds move, the charge comes off at the Land Registry, and you own the whole of your home's future growth. If you part-repaid, the paperwork records the new, smaller percentage instead.
Where the time goes
The valuation itself is quick - days from booking to report. The administrator's processing and the legal work carry the calendar risk: redemption figures, solicitor onboarding, and lender funds each take their week or two, and any error in the application restarts a queue. The redemptions that complete in a month are the ones with funding agreed and a solicitor instructed before the application went in; the ones that expire valuations are the ones that treated those steps as afterthoughts. If the figure itself surprises you, you have options worth knowing about before the repayment locks in.
Start with the valuation
Verified RICS valuers who handle equity loan redemptions quote for your property - compare fees and turnaround, free.
Compare valuation quotesCommon questions
Can I repay part of the loan rather than all of it?
Yes - in instalments of at least 10% of current market value, each needing its own valuation and application. Most owners who part-repay do it once, taking a 40% loan to 20% or a 20% to 10%, then clear the rest at sale or remortgage.
What if I'm selling - does the process change?
The redemption folds into the sale: same valuation rules, but your conveyancer repays the administrator from the sale proceeds at completion, using the loan percentage of the sale price or valuation, whichever is higher.
What does the whole thing cost in fees?
Valuation £150 to £350, the administrator's processing fee, and solicitor's redemption work at a few hundred pounds - customarily under £1,000 all-in unless a remortgage adds its own costs. Small next to what year-six-onwards interest adds up to.
Do I have to repay when the interest starts?
No - the interest (from year six) is a running cost, not a deadline, and plenty of owners keep the loan for years after it starts. Repayment timing is your call; the interest just changes the arithmetic of waiting.
Sources and further reading