Lease length is not assessed on its own. At least one lender combines it with the age of the youngest applicant, and another publishes no lease-term rule at all. This sets out what two providers actually publish, corrects a figure that circulates widely, and lists what to find in your own lease.
There is no minimum lease length for equity release. There is a calculation, and your age is half of it. Almost every page you will read on this gets both halves wrong.
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.
“age of the youngest applicant at completion, plus remaining lease term, must be at least 175 years”
Legal & General’s published lending criteria, opened 6 September 2026
Two numbers added together, not one number on its own. The older you are, the shorter the lease can be. One provider’s rule on one date, quoted as an example of how such a rule is written. It is not a market standard and other lenders do it differently.
“Legal & General require 185 years left on the lease.”
Their published criteria say 175, and they are not asking for 175 years left on the lease. They are asking for your age plus the remaining term to reach 175 between them.
The difference is not academic. Read as an unexpired term, the rule would exclude almost every flat in the country. Read as it is actually written, a 70-year-old with 105 years left meets it.
| Younger of you | Lease years needed |
|---|---|
| 55 | 120 |
| 60 | 115 |
| 65 | 110 |
| 70 | 105 |
| 75 | 100 |
| 80 or over | 95 |
Their published criteria carry no minimum lease term at all. What they carry instead is a limit on the size of the building. These are Pure Retirement’s published rules for its four lifetime mortgages, opened on 6 September 2026.
“Acceptable - subject to a maximum of 4 properties in the block.”
“Acceptable - subject to a maximum of 2 properties in the block.”
“Acceptable - subject to a maximum of 2 properties in the block. For flats the loan amount is restricted to 85% of the max LTV.”
“Max number of 2 flats in the building.”
So a leaseholder in a purpose-built block of thirty flats can have a lease of any length and still be outside these criteria, while a leaseholder in a converted house of two can be inside them with a much shorter one. Nobody writing about lease length mentions this.
“No, we do not accept freehold flats or maisonettes. We can consider freehold houses or bungalows.”
A freehold flat is a different thing from a share of freehold, and the two get confused constantly. If you are not sure which you have, your solicitor can tell you from the title in minutes.
Two numbers do most of the work here: the exact years left on your lease, and the age of the younger of you. Bring those and an adviser can work through the published rules with you instead of guessing.
Equity release requires repaying any existing mortgage. Money released, plus accrued interest, would need to be repaid upon death or moving into long-term care.
Whether your lease is long enough, because that depends on your age and on which lender and product. What every other lender requires: figures for several circulate widely and we have not verified any of them, so they are not on this page. And nothing at all about whether to extend your lease. What that would cost, whether your freeholder must agree and whether it is worth doing are questions for a solicitor and a valuer who have read your lease.
For an adviser and, on the last one, for a solicitor. Bring your two numbers to the first.
Using my age and my exact remaining term, which lenders' published rules do I meet?
The question phrased so it can actually be answered. Bring both numbers and an adviser can work through the market with you.
Is the length of my lease the constraint here, or is it something else about the building?
One of the two lenders in the evidence limits the number of flats and publishes no lease-term rule at all. The obvious problem is not always the real one.
Does my ground rent or service charge affect this separately?
They are assessed on their own terms, not as part of the lease length, and a rising ground rent is a known issue in its own right.
Should I ask my solicitor about extending the lease before going further?
A question for them and for a valuer, not for us and not for a website. What it would cost and whether it is worth it depend on the lease, the freeholder and the property.
If a lender says no on lease length, is that their whole range or one product?
Get it in writing. One lender in the evidence publishes four different sets of criteria for its own four products.
Short answers to the things that come up most. None of it is advice, and every figure on this page carries its source.
It depends on your age as well as the lease. One published rule is that the age of the youngest applicant at completion, plus the remaining lease term, must be at least 175 years. Two numbers added together, not one on its own.
No. Their published criteria say 175, and they are not asking for 175 years left on the lease. Read as an unexpired term, that rule would exclude almost every flat in the country. Read as written, a 70-year-old with 105 years left meets it.
No. One provider published criteria carry no minimum lease term at all. What they carry instead is a limit on the size of the building, expressed as a maximum number of properties in the block.
Not necessarily. A leaseholder in a purpose-built block of thirty flats can have a lease of any length and still sit outside those criteria, while a leaseholder in a converted house of two can be inside them with a much shorter one.
The term and its start date, which are in the lease so you can subtract; the ground rent and whether it doubles or rises on a set date, which is assessed separately; how many flats are in the building; and whether you own a share of the freehold.
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.