What Is The Qualifying Criteria For Equity Release?
The basic criteria for equity release qualification is a minimum age of 55 and homeowner-ship of a property valued at least £60,000. Again, always check lender specifics as each equity release company has their own qualifying criteria, and is where your local interest only lifetime mortgage adviser can assist. By having access to the whole of the equity release marketplace an independent equity release adviser can source the best scheme based on your personal circumstances.
Additionally, lenders will impose standards on the property type they will accept. In the main they do prefer properties that are brick/stone in construction with slate or tiled roofs and predominantly should have an apex, however some lenders will accept a certain portion of flat roof. Equity release providers will order a basic survey/valuation of the property to ensure that it represents good security & that no essential repairs are necessary. The surveyor themselves will provide a property valuation which represents its current market value based on a fairly quick sale.
Equity release schemes do not require any proof of income as invariably there are no monthly payments to make. However, for interest only lifetime mortgage plans & retirement mortgages some proof of income will be required & needs to be supportive of the amount being applied for.This is essential under the new Mortgage Market Review (MMR) rules of lending for mortgagees.
If the property is jointly owned, then any application will need to also be placed into join names. However, should only one party have title to the property & are not married, then it would be possible to have a single application in the name of the sole homeowner. This could be for reasons such as age whereby one partner is under the age of 55. Here advice is essential in order to protect the party not on the deeds and application, particularly in case the other partner dies early.
