What LIFT is
LIFT — the Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers — is the Scottish Government shared equity programme administered by Link Group. The strand most people mean when they say LIFT is Open Market Shared Equity, which helps you buy a property that is already for sale on the open market rather than a specific new development.
The Scottish Government takes a share of between 10% and 40% of the valuation or purchase price, whichever is lower. You fund the rest through a mortgage and your own deposit. There is no interest and no monthly payment on the government share; it is repaid as a percentage when you sell.
Who it is aimed at
LIFT is not open to everyone who would like help. It is aimed at people on low to moderate incomes who could not otherwise afford the property, and it gives priority to particular groups.
- First-time buyers — The largest group, and the starting point for most applications.
- Social renters — Tenants of a local authority or a housing association.
- Disabled people — Where housing need can be demonstrated.
- People aged 60 and over — A priority group, and one where a mortgage is not always required.
- Armed forces and veterans — Serving members, and veterans who left within the past two years.
- Bereaved partners of service personnel — Where the death occurred within the past two years.
You also cannot own another property at the point of purchase, and you must be unable to afford the home without the scheme. That last test is a real one — it is not a top-up for a purchase you could already manage.
Property thresholds and the apartment rule
Two limits shape which properties qualify. The first is a maximum price threshold that varies by local authority and by property size, and is reset each financial year — the 2026/27 figures are published by the Scottish Government and are the ones to check rather than any list reproduced on a broker site.
The second is the apartment rule, which decides how large a property you are allowed to buy. An apartment means any habitable room. Kitchens, open-plan kitchen areas, bathrooms, box rooms, utility rooms, hallways and glass conservatories do not count. People are often surprised that an open-plan living and dining space may count differently from two separate rooms, and it can move a property in or out of range.
Passport Approval and the timetable
You apply before you find a property. If you are approved you receive a Passport Approval Letter, which is valid for up to 12 weeks and tells sellers and agents that your funding is in place. If you do not find something in that window you can reapply, subject to budget being available.
Funding runs in rounds against a fixed budget, and settlement dates matter: purchases under the current round are expected to settle by 31 March 2027. Where a scheme is oversubscribed, approval is not guaranteed simply because you meet the criteria.
How LIFT compares with the First Homes Fund
The First Homes Fund is a fixed contribution of up to £10,000 on a property worth up to £300,000, aimed at first-time buyers generally. LIFT takes a much larger share, between 10% and 40%, and is targeted at priority groups who could not otherwise buy at all.
The practical distinction is the size of the gap you are trying to bridge. A £10,000 shortfall points to the First Homes Fund. A gap of tens of thousands between borrowing capacity and local prices points to LIFT. You cannot hold an open application to both at once.
The mortgage side
Lender appetite is the constraint people underestimate. A shared equity property has a Scottish Government interest registered against the title, and not every lender will lend on that basis — some decline outright, others apply their own minimum share or maximum loan to value. Criteria also differ between the LIFT strands.
The affordability assessment is done on your mortgage alone, since there is no monthly cost to the government share, but lenders will still want to see how the whole arrangement is structured. Establishing which lenders will work with the scheme, at the share you are likely to be offered, is the part worth settling before you commit to a property.