First Time Buyer - Mortgage Relief

Hello
Can you help me? Is mortgage relief the same as the old First time buyers grant.

My friend is getting mortgage relief from source but has heard nothing about first time buyers. he is a year on in his mortgage now and is afraid that he is missing out?

Can you help

flanner said:

Hello
Can you help me? Is mortgage relief the same as the old First time buyers grant.

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No - FTB grant was abolished years ago. Info on mortgage interest relief is available [broken link removed].

My friend is getting mortgage relief from source but has heard nothing about first time buyers.

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Different rates of interest relief apply to FTBs in the first 7 years of their mortgage compared to others. See [broken link removed].

he is a year on in his mortgage now and is afraid that he is missing out?

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What are the details of his loan (amount, term, rate, rate type etc.) or what amount of interest is he paying at the moment and what amount of relief is he getting? If in doubt he should contact his lender and Revenue.

He is a first time buyer with a mortgage for 35 years.

His mortgage relief at source has not changed since 2006 rates.

Think it is jut under 4% on mortgage of about 250000.

So do you not get anything now that you are a first time buyer?

flanner said:

So do you not get anything now that you are a first time buyer?

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Yes - you do. He should be getting FTB interest relief on the mortgage. And should be getting (now or soon) the revised amount for Budget 2007. Note that the single FTB rate of relief is now a maximum of €8K p.a. (i.e. €8K @ 20% = €1,600 p.a. or €133.33 p.m. off the interest bill) but on a mortgage of €250K @ 4% over 35 years he would be paying only c. €5K in interest in year one, c. €4.6K in year two etc (see Karl Jeacle's mortgage calculator) and would only get relief on the lower amount as a result. The old relief was €4K so it's possible that he sees little or no change as a result of the budget because he's simply paying too little interest to benefit. If he's in doubt about any of this then he should contact his lender, check his statements and clarify matters with Revenue.