Equity Release

Equity release schemes are becoming more and more common and can be a very useful way of unlocking some of the money tied up in your home without you having to move.   The schemes are usually open for people who are at lest 55 years old but the age requirement can depend on the type of scheme.

There are several different types of schemes available now, including loans which are secured against your property or reversion plans which allow you to sell part or all of your home but still allow you to  live in it. 

Most schemes do not require repayment until the last owner dies or moves into permanent care.  Interest accrues on some and others have facility for the interest to be repaid monthly so that the amount secured against the property doesn’t increase.

An Independent Financial Advisor will be able to give you advise as to which scheme best fits your financial circumstances.  We would recommend that you ensure that your advisor is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and that any product you choose is from a company which is a member of the Equity Release Council. 

Our role is to advise you on the legal aspects of the scheme and ensure that you understand the implications that entering into the equity release mortgage will have on you during your lifetime and the impact on your estate in the future.   However it is always a good idea to instruct us fairly early on as we can then look at the title documents to the property, particularly where the property isn’t registered with the Land Registry.  This allows us to pre-empt any issues or enquiries that the equity release provider or their solicitor might have.

We offer a fixed fee service to check through the documents, have a face to face meeting with you to go through all of the documents and answer any questions you might have.

Generally the equity release provider will appoint their own solicitor who will send us a standard pack of questions to go through with you and answer.  We have several lawyers who have a lot of experience in dealing with equity release matters and who are familiar with most of the main lender’s and their solicitors enquiries.  This puts us in a good position to be able to progress your equity release transaction quickly and smoothly.

What we will need from you:

• Your identity documents –  we have an obligation as part of the anti-money laundering legislation to check the identity of all clients instructing us in property transactions.   We use either an online company to assist securely with our checks or you can attend one of our offices in person with your documents for us to verify.  We are also likely to have to provide copies to the solicitors acting for the equity release provider.
• An idea of your timescales,  we do try to work with your expectations but it is important to bear in mind that we will be reliant on the lender and their solicitors.
• A copy of your Buildings Insurance.