Rhys and Tanja

A young Midlothian couple were among the first to reserve a new home using Help to Buy (Scotland) at Taylor Wimpey’s Hopefield Grange development in Bonnyrigg.

Rhys Morris (22), a customer support assistant, and his wife Tanya (23), a deputy retail manager, used Help to Buy (Scotland) to reserve a two bedroom property at this popular development within easy reach of Edinburgh.  

Rhys said: “My wife Tanya and I have been struggling for such a long time to be in a position to buy our own home. We looked for about three years but just couldn’t afford to raise the level of deposit that was needed to get a mortgage, and found that being so young was a disadvantage. We’ve both got great jobs so we knew the mortgage repayments would be manageable, so it was really frustrating not to be able to get a mortgage.

"Help to Buy (Scotland) gave us an amazing opportunity to realise our dream of a new home. We’d been living with Tanya’s parents so we could save up our deposit to be able to move, and we’d been keeping an eye out on the market.  

“New build was our preference because we really like the style new homes offer both inside and out, plus everything’s lovely and new to move into, and we happened to be visiting one of Taylor Wimpey’s developments on the day the scheme launched.  We fell in love with the showhomes as soon as we arrived, and the overall development has a really fantastic feel to it.

“We can’t believe how quickly our fortunes changed and the whole process was really hassle-free."