Rent to Own Wales or Help to Buy Wales?

If you are weighing Rent to Own Wales against Help to Buy Wales, the first thing to know is that one of them is no longer open. Rent to Own Wales is closed, and all the homes built under it have been built and let¹. A small number of homes may become available in future, and the scheme has closed to new landlords, so anything that does come up would come through landlords already taking part².

Help to Buy Wales is still running. It is a Welsh Government shared equity loan of up to 20% of the purchase price of a new build home, on properties priced up to £300,000, and you need a 5% deposit with a repayment mortgage covering the rest⁴. Applications must be submitted by 31 March 2027⁶.

So the practical comparison is between a scheme you can no longer join and one you can, with a deadline. This page sets out how each worked, what each cost, who could use them, and what happens after you move in.

Rent to Own Wales has closed, with only a few homes coming back

Rent to Own Wales was designed for people who did not have enough saved for a mortgage deposit¹. Under the scheme you rented a home from a participating landlord and built up a lump sum towards a deposit while you rented, which could then be used to help secure a mortgage to buy that home¹.

That route is now shut. The scheme is closed and all homes have been built and let¹. The Welsh Government's own guidance says a small number of homes may become available in future, and directs anyone interested to contact a participating landlord in their local area². The GOV.UK page on the scheme says the same: it has closed to new landlords, but some properties might still be available⁸.

There is no waiting list you can join to guarantee a home, and no application window that is open. If a Rent to Own home does come back onto the market, it will be through a landlord who was already part of the scheme, and the terms you would be offered are the ones set out in the scheme's buyers' guide³.

The context matters here. Housing has become less affordable in 19 of 22 local authorities in Wales since Help to Buy Wales was introduced in 2014, measured by the ratio of house prices to workplace earnings⁹. That is the pressure both schemes were designed to answer, and it is why the closure of one of them leaves Help to Buy Wales carrying the load.

How each scheme works: renting towards a deposit or borrowing towards a new build

The two schemes worked in completely different ways, which is why they suited different people.

Rent to Own Wales was a rent-to-save model. You rented a home within the scheme and built up a lump sum towards a deposit as you paid rent¹. You could apply to buy your home at any time between the end of the second year and the end of the agreement¹. The scheme was aimed at people who could not afford to buy a suitable property on the open market or through any other home ownership initiative¹⁰.

Help to Buy Wales is a shared equity loan. The Welsh Government lends you up to 20% of the purchase price of a new build home, you put in a 5% deposit, and you take out a repayment mortgage for the remaining 75% of the property value⁴. It is not a rental product at all: you own the home from completion and the government holds a stake alongside your mortgage.

The scheme has been running since 2 January 2014 and has supported more than 14,000 households into homeownership¹¹. Since inception to 30 September 2025 there have been 15,043 completions under Help to Buy Wales⁷.

Help to Buy Wales: up to 20% equity loan on homes up to £300,000

The headline terms are straightforward. The equity loan is up to 20% of the property value, interest-free for the first five years, and you need only a 5% deposit⁴. The maximum equity loan is £60,000, which is 20% of the purchase price of a property at the £300,000 cap⁴.

The price cap has moved. It rose back to £300,000 under a December 2022 extension⁹. Homes must be new builds bought from a builder registered with the scheme, and the maximum price is £300,000⁵.

You must fund at least 80% of the property price through a combination of a repayment mortgage and a minimum deposit of 5%⁵. The mortgage must be a first charge repayment mortgage with a qualifying lender⁵.

There is a conveyancing condition that catches people out: to access a Help to Buy Wales loan you must instruct a conveyancer listed on the scheme's website, and applicants must use a solicitor or conveyancer who has undertaken Help to Buy Wales training¹³.

The scheme is not available on the purchase of houses sold on a leasehold basis¹⁴. It applies in Wales only⁷.

Where the money actually goes is worth seeing. In the scheme's own worked example on a £200,000 home, the buyer puts in a 5% deposit of £10,000, the government equity mortgage is 20%, or £40,000, and the buyer's mortgage covers the rest¹⁵.

Rent to Own Wales: 25% of your rent becomes your deposit

The mechanics of Rent to Own Wales are still worth understanding, because they explain why it appealed to people who could not save a deposit in the ordinary way.

Under the scheme you received 25% of the rent paid over the duration of the tenancy, plus 50% of any increase in the property's value during the time you rented it, to use as a deposit towards buying the property¹. So the deposit came from two places: a share of your own rent coming back to you, and a share of any growth in the home's value.

The Welsh Government published worked examples. On a £150,000 property with annual market value growth of 2%, five years of tenancy produced a deposit of £16,926, which is 10.2% of the property's value at the point of buying¹. Rent paid over those five years came to £36,480¹.

If values went the other way, the outcome was much weaker. On the same £150,000 property with annual market value decline of 2%, five years produced £9,120, or 6.7%¹. That is the risk at the heart of the model: part of your deposit depended on the property going up in value, and it could go down instead.

To apply you had to read the Rent to Own Wales buyers' guide, contact participating landlords about available properties, and on identifying a property you wanted to reserve, pay a holding fee of £250 and complete the application form¹⁹.

Who can use each scheme

The eligibility rules were different in kind, not just in detail.

For Rent to Own Wales you had to rent an eligible home from a participating landlord, be in work including self-employment, be able to afford the rent on your chosen property, not currently own a home anywhere in the world (unless a court order forces you to stay on the deeds of a property where your children live), not be eligible for housing benefit, and be unable to afford to buy a suitable property for your family size on the open market or through any other home ownership initiative¹⁰.

For Help to Buy Wales the rules are about the property and the funding, not your tenure. You must be buying a new build from a registered builder at no more than £300,000, take out a first charge repayment mortgage with a qualifying lender, put in a minimum 5% deposit, fund at least 80% of the price through mortgage and deposit together, and not be renting your existing home while buying a second home through the scheme⁵. You must not sub-let any part of the house you are buying through the scheme⁵.

Help to Buy Wales is open to anyone living in Wales, including individuals, couples and families⁴. It is available to all home buyers, not just first-time buyers¹¹. In practice first-time buyers dominate: 77% of completed purchases, or 11,340, have been made by first-time buyers since the scheme began⁷. The remaining 84 completed purchases in 2023-24, 16%, were by former owner-occupiers⁴.

What each scheme costs you over time

The costs of the two schemes are not comparable line for line, because one was a rental product and one is a loan secured on your home.

With Rent to Own Wales, you paid market rent on the property for the duration of the tenancy. In the Welsh Government's example that was £620 a month, or £36,480 over five years, of which 25% came back to you as deposit¹. You also paid a £250 holding fee when you reserved a property¹⁹. The cost of the scheme was therefore the rent itself, and the risk was that a fall in the property's value shrank your deposit.

With Help to Buy Wales, the cost structure is a mortgage plus a government loan. You pay your mortgage as normal. The equity loan is interest-free for the first five years, and from year 6 you pay a monthly interest fee of 1.75% of the equity mortgage⁷. The loan must be repaid within 25 years⁹. Repay the entire loan within the first five years and you pay zero interest⁴.

The repayment amount is not fixed to what you borrowed. It is calculated as a proportion of either the current market value of your property or the sale price, whichever is higher¹⁵. So if you received 20% of the initial purchase price, you pay back 20% of the higher of the current market value or the sale price¹⁵. If your home has gone up in value, you repay more in cash than you borrowed, even though the percentage is the same.

You can pay the loan off in stages. The minimum part payment is 10% of your home's current value, or you can pay the full amount in one go⁴.

The purchase prices people actually paid give a sense of scale. In 2023-24 the mean purchase price for completed purchases was £248,924 and the median was £249,995⁴. In 2024-25 the median purchase price paid was £260,000⁷. In the quarter from 1 July to 30 September 2025 the mean property purchase price using the scheme was £264,335, with a mean equity loan value of £53,000²⁰.

Most buyers put in the minimum. Around two thirds, 64%, of all recipients of Help to Buy Wales shared equity loans have provided the minimum 5% deposit⁷. An earlier count put it at 65%, with 19% providing between 5.1% and 10%⁴.

Rent to Own or Help to Buy: which fits your situation

The honest answer is that for most people arriving at this question, only one of the two is available.

Rent to Own Wales is closed, so it is not a live option unless a home comes back through a participating landlord¹. If you want to pursue it, the route is to contact a participating landlord in your local area for more information². There is no central application open to the public.

Help to Buy Wales is open until 31 March 2027, and it suits a particular set of circumstances: you are buying a new build, the price is £300,000 or less, you have at least a 5% deposit, and you can get a repayment mortgage for the rest⁵. It is not restricted to first-time buyers, so it can work for home movers too¹¹.

If you are not buying a new build, Help to Buy Wales is not for you, and the Welsh alternatives are Homebuy Wales, an equity loan to assist purchasing an existing property, and Shared Ownership Wales, where you buy an initial share of 25% to 75% and pay rent on the remaining share¹⁶. Shared Ownership Wales is not available to assist buy-to-let investors²¹.

If your difficulty is not the deposit but affording the mortgage, Help to Stay Wales is a separate scheme: a shared equity loan to help cover mortgage costs, with free financial advice, for eligible Welsh homeowners who are struggling to pay or at risk of falling behind²². It also runs until 31 March 2027²⁴.

Help to Buy Wales rules after you move in, and help if you fall behind

Once you are in, the scheme keeps conditions on the property.

You must not sub-let any part of the house you are buying through the scheme⁵. If you want to make alterations, you must repay your equity mortgage before undertaking them unless the scheme has given written consent²⁵. When you sell or make a part payment, the amount you repay is based on either the market value of your property or the sale price, whichever is higher²⁶. The valuation excludes additions or improvements you have made unless otherwise agreed, the existing first charge in favour of your mortgage lender, and any tenancy or other right of occupation affecting the property²⁶.

If you fall behind, the scheme's arrears policy is set out in some detail. Arrears are outstanding management fees, outstanding interest payments, and any other outstanding amounts relating to other charges or interest payments²⁷. Missed payments still have to be paid back when you come to repay your equity mortgage²⁸.

The scheme says it will provide information about the arrears before any attempts are made to recover them, and give a reasonable amount of time to make good the arrears²⁷. It will take steps to understand your financial circumstances to determine a suitable arrears management plan, and make a range of tools available²⁷. Before pursuing you it will take reasonable steps to verify the accuracy and adequacy of the data relating to the account²⁷. Customers in financial difficulty are referred to a source of free and independent debt advice²⁷. Help to Buy Wales works closely with the debt advice agency PayPlan, though you can use any free debt advice agency²⁸.

A default notice is issued 180 days after an equity mortgage goes into arrears where there has been no engagement or co-operation, or where arrears management agreements have not been satisfied, and it gives 28 days' notice to make good the arrears²⁷. The stated objective of arrears management is to help customers get back on track with their repayments²⁷.

Customers are treated in line with the principles of Treating Customers Fairly, with consideration given to forbearance and breathing space as appropriate²⁷. Although only some of the accounts under the scheme are FCA-regulated, non-regulated accounts are treated to equivalent standards²⁷. The scheme also has a vulnerable customer policy, aimed at giving vulnerable customers the same access to products and services as all customers, and recognises that any consumer can become vulnerable at any time, for example through serious illness, bereavement or loss of income²⁹.

If you feel you have been treated unfairly, you can let the scheme know, and there is a complaints process³⁰. Help to Buy Wales Ltd manages the scheme on behalf of the Welsh Government³⁰.