Homeowners who used the government’s help to buy loan scheme to get on the property ladder have said they are struggling to get the paperwork needed to sell or remortgage after a new company took over its administration.
Borrowers are facing long delays after a behind-the-scenes change in June when the government agency in charge, Homes England, switched administration to a company called Lenvi.
Borrowers with the loans, which are interest-free for five years and designed to help people with small deposits afford a property, must pay them off when they move home.
They can remortgage, but their new lender will need details of the loan as it is secured on the property. In both cases an official statement is needed from the administrator before the deals can be completed.
However, users of the scheme have complained that, since the switch to Lenvi, paperwork has gone missing, putting purchases and sales at risk and delaying remortgages. It is understood no documents have gone missing, but there have been problems accessing some data.
One borrower who contacted the Guardian said over the past week he had spent 25 hours on the phone attempting to get vital paperwork for a remortgage, while another told of a delay to a sale of a property owned by a vulnerable relative.
Another borrower said he could still hear the hold music after spending almost a whole day waiting to get through to ask for the redemption documents he needs to complete a sale.
Help to Buy was introduced in 2013 to support people getting on the housing ladder and was closed to new applicants in October. More than 380,000 people have used the scheme.
Benedict Frankish and his partner have been trying to remortgage their property near York. They originally sent requests for information to the previous administrators, as they were not informed of the change.
Last Tuesday, Frankish contacted the scheme to request the paperwork to complete their new mortgage and pay off the help to Buy loan.
He said: “I got in touch with someone after five hours on hold. On Wednesday they said they would send out a statement but despite triple-checking my solicitor’s details it never arrived. I called again at 10am on Thursday and was on hold until 8.30 that night.”
On Saturday, he called as soon as the lines opened at 9am and got through at 1.25pm, just before they closed.
The couple still have not received the paperwork, and their mortgage has reverted to his lender’s standard variable rate of 7.99% – much higher than the 5.3% deal they attempted to switch to. They have also incurred interest on the help to buy loan they are trying to clear.
In London, Alexander and his friend have been trying to sell a flat they bought using the loan and have spent hours trying to get in touch with Lenvi to get hold of documents to show that the loan will be redeemed on completion.
He said several times he had been automatically cut off after an hour on hold, and it had been frustrating to try to get through.
“It’s the last remaining piece of the jigsaw and it seems it will take the longest to resolve,” he said. “I finally got through and they sent something showing I’m £1 in arrears. I queried this as we have a direct debit, they said they’d put me through and then I got cut off, so I have to go through it all again.”
A Homes England spokesperson said: “We are aware customers are currently experiencing delays contacting the help to buy customer service team. We are experiencing a high level of demand and we sincerely apologise to those impacted.
“We are working hard to resolve this as quickly as possible and have brought in additional staff and extended our working hours to help deal with this demand.
“Customers are advised to only call for urgent requests otherwise please email with account number and completion date in the subject line and we’ll respond as soon as possible.”
