A spouse or partner who meets the age requirement can normally be on the plan, which gives them the right to remain. Anybody else in the house is in a different position: the provider needs to know the property can be sold when the loan falls due, so a friend, lodger or adult child will be asked to confirm they have no right to continue living there. Raising it early is the whole point of this page.
A spouse or partner can usually be on the plan. A friend, a lodger or an adult child cannot, and will be asked to confirm they have no right to stay once the property has to be sold.
Equity release may involve a lifetime mortgage, secured against your property, or a home reversion plan. It will reduce the value of your estate and impact funding long-term care.
The first is who is on the plan. The Equity Release Council say that if you are married, in a civil partnership or living with someone as a partner, and you are both eligible by age, you can take out a joint plan. Your spouse or partner then has the right to live in the property for as long as they wish, should you die or move into long-term care.
The second is what happens to everybody else. The Council are blunt: if you have a friend or tenant living in your home, the provider will want to make sure they have no rights to continue to live there when you die or move out, because that is the point at which the loan has to be repaid through selling the property.
Anyone aged 17 or over living in the property also has to take their own independent legal advice, so they understand their position when the property is eventually sold. That is a different requirement from being on the plan, and it applies either way.
The solicitor stage →A joint plan gives both of you the right to remain. If one of you is below the age the provider requires, that is the constraint to raise with an adviser first, because it shapes everything else.
Age limits and property criteria →They are not a partner, so they cannot be on the plan. They will need their own legal advice, and they will be asked to confirm they have no right to stay when the property is sold.
What you leave behind →The provider needs to know the property can be sold with vacant possession when the time comes. An existing tenancy is a fact the adviser needs at the first meeting, not at the valuation.
What happens at the end →Same position as any other occupier. Being needed is not the same as having a right to remain, and it is much better established now than by their finding out later.
Moving into care →This is the practical heart of it. Somebody who lives with you is going to be asked, by a solicitor, to confirm in writing that they understand they have no right to carry on living in the house after you die or move into care. If the first they hear of it is in that appointment, it lands badly and it lands in public.
Telling them early does not make the answer different. It makes it a conversation you have together, with time to think about what happens to them and whether anything can be arranged. That is worth more than a smooth application.
The Council say your solicitor will want to see you on your own, at least in the first instance, to ensure you understand the plan you are entering into and that nobody is pressuring you to release money. Family can come in later if you want to discuss things openly with them.
It is worth knowing this is normal rather than suspicion of anybody in particular. It is also the moment at which, if somebody is pushing you, you can say so to a professional whose job includes listening for exactly that.
Whether a particular provider would accept a property with an occupier, or what wording they would want signed. Those are lending and legal questions about specific people and a specific property.
What anybody's legal position is. Occupiers get their own independent legal advice precisely because that question needs a solicitor acting for them, not for you and not for us.
Anybody's legal rights to live in your home. That is exactly why occupiers take their own independent legal advice, from a solicitor acting for them. We are not solicitors or advisers, we do not know your household, and nothing here tells you or anybody else what to do.
Equity release may involve a lifetime mortgage, secured against your property, or a home reversion plan. It will reduce the value of your estate and impact funding long-term care.
A five-minute list that prevents the most avoidable and most upsetting surprise in the whole process.
Questions worth asking the adviser at the first meeting.
Who in my household can be on the plan, and who cannot?
It is the fork everything else follows from, and it depends on age and on relationship.
What exactly will my son or daughter be asked to sign?
Better to know the substance before the appointment than to hear it read out in front of them.
Does the tenancy in my annexe stop this?
An existing tenancy is a legal interest. Raise it at the start rather than letting it surface at the valuation.
What happens if my partner is too young to be on the plan?
It is a common situation and it materially changes what is sensible. Ask before anything is applied for.
When will the people I live with need their own solicitor?
They will need one. Knowing the timing lets them arrange it rather than being rushed.
Short answers to the things that come up most. None of it is advice, and every figure on this page carries its source.
Usually, if you are both old enough. The Equity Release Council say that if you are married, in a civil partnership or living with someone else as a partner and you are both eligible by age, you can take out a joint equity release plan, and your spouse or partner will then have the right to live in the property for as long as they wish should you die or move into long-term care.
They cannot be on the plan, and the Council are direct about the consequence. If you have a friend or tenant living in your home, the provider will want to make sure they have no rights to continue to live there when you die or move out, because that is the point at which the loan has to be repaid through selling the property.
Yes. Any person aged 17 or over who lives in the property needs to take legal advice of their own, to confirm they understand their position and rights once the mortgage is in place and, particularly, when the property is sold and the loan repaid. That is a separate requirement from being on the plan, and it applies whether or not they are related to you.
The Council explain that your solicitor will want to see you on your own, at least in the first instance, to make sure you understand the plan you are entering into and that nobody is pressuring you to release money. Family members can join later if you want to discuss your affairs openly with them.
Yes, and at the first meeting rather than later. It does not change whether you are eligible, but it decides who will need their own legal advice and what the provider will ask for. The subject arrives eventually in every case, and it is much better raised by you early than discovered at the solicitor stage in front of the person it affects.
Equity release may involve a lifetime mortgage, secured against your property, or a home reversion plan. It will reduce the value of your estate and impact funding long-term care.
One qualified equity release adviser. They will go through your figures and tell you if there is a better answer. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity and Vimeo. Say no and none of them loads. What each one stores, and what Microsoft use theirs for.