Is the Lifetime ISA bonus a public fund? And can I use LIFT or shared equity on a visa?
These two questions come up together, usually from the same worry: am I allowed to take help that looks like it comes from the government?
They have different answers, and neither of them is really a mortgage question. Here is what each one actually turns on and who can answer it, so you are asking the right person.
What "public funds" means
Most Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker visas carry a condition called no recourse to public funds — you cannot claim certain state benefits. It will be printed on your visa or shown in your online immigration status.
The important thing: public funds is a defined list, not a general idea. The Immigration Rules set out exactly which benefits count — things like Universal Credit, housing benefit and child benefit. If something is not on that list, the condition does not reach it.
So the question is never "does this feel like government money?" It is "is this thing on the list?"
The Lifetime ISA
A Lifetime ISA, or LISA, is a savings account for a first home or for retirement where the government adds a bonus to what you save.
Whether that bonus falls inside the public funds condition is an immigration question, decided by the Home Office's list, not by your lender and not by us. We will not tell you the answer here, because getting it wrong in either direction has real consequences for your visa, and this is not our area.
Two things we can point you at:
- The Immigration Rules set out what counts as public funds. That list is the thing to check against.
- An immigration adviser regulated to give that advice can tell you how it applies to your status. If you have any doubt, that is the conversation worth paying for.
Separately from the public funds question, a Lifetime ISA has its own rules about who can open one — they are about being a UK resident for tax and your age when you open it, and they are set by HMRC. GOV.UK sets them out.
What we can tell you is the part that is ours: if you do have a Lifetime ISA and you use it for a deposit, lenders treat that money as a deposit like any other. It does not make the mortgage harder.
LIFT and shared equity in Scotland
LIFT is the Scottish Government's Low-cost Initiative for First Time buyers. Under a shared equity purchase, the government takes a percentage stake in the home and you buy the rest, so you need a smaller mortgage.
There are two parts to whether this works for you, and they are separate:
Does the scheme accept you? That is the Scottish Government's decision, through the agents who administer LIFT. The schemes have their own eligibility conditions, they are reviewed and they change, and they are not the same thing as the public funds condition. The scheme's own guidance is the authority, and it is worth reading before you build a plan around it.
Will a lender lend alongside it? That is the mortgage half, and it is the half we can answer.
Not every lender offers mortgages on shared equity purchases at all — it is a smaller part of the market, and a lender has to be set up for it. Of those that do, each has its own view on applicants who hold a visa. You need a lender that says yes to both, and that is a narrower list than the market as a whole.
It is not an empty list. Lenders do exist that will consider a shared equity purchase for someone on a visa, and finding which ones is the ordinary work of a broker. What we will not do is promise an outcome before anyone has looked at your circumstances — which lender will lend depends on your income, your deposit, your visa and how long you have been here, the same as any other application.
The order to do this in
- Check the public funds question with the Immigration Rules, or with an immigration adviser if there is any doubt. Do this first, because it is the one with consequences beyond the house.
- Check the scheme's own eligibility directly with LIFT, if shared equity is what you are considering.
- Then talk about the mortgage — which lenders will work with the scheme and with your circumstances, and what you could borrow.
Doing it in that order saves the most time. People often start at step three, and the answer to a mortgage question is not much use until the first two are settled.
Where we fit
We are a mortgage adviser. We can tell you what you could borrow, which lenders will consider a shared equity purchase, and how a Lifetime ISA deposit is treated when it arrives. We cannot tell you what your visa permits, and anyone who offers to without being regulated to give immigration advice is not doing you a favour.
Your first 30-minute call is free. If you are looking at LIFT or have money in a Lifetime ISA, say so at the start and we will tell you which parts we can answer and where to take the rest.