The H2B scheme is confusing AF, so my main advice through all of this is to speak to a mortgage broker about your options. You’re right that you can’t rent out your home until you’ve repaid the equity loan. You’re also right that once you have, you don’t have to abide by the rules of the scheme. In an ideal world, help to buyers would save up over five years so they can they pay off their 20% loan in full. However, with house prices and living costs as they are, this is easier said than done.
Your income is in recovery mode and for now, maybe it’s about building a safety net in the form of savings while you navigate the next steps with the house.A handy hack I use in my own self-employed life is to think about my finances in quarters and years as opposed to months. It’s a psychological trick; the financial impact of a gig falling through or illness can be a devastating hit to your financial month but is less shocking when framed within three months or a year.