How does equity release work?

Just call us to find out more. No question is too small, we're ready to take your call and very happy to help whatever the query. There's no obligation and no pushy sales tactics. We can check you meet the basic eligibility criteria if you would like us to.

Now it’s time to find out more about you. Your Customer Service Agent will call you to gain a deeper understanding of your financial circumstances and particular needs. This information forms the basis of our research and final recommendation to you.

We’ll send you a short biography and photo of your Adviser so that you know exactly who you’re talking to when they introduce themselves as part of the recommendation call.

Your Adviser will talk you through their recommendation, so that you can ask questions and take time to fully understand the product they’re recommending. This is an important meeting so do feel free to invite family or a close friend along to join the call. This can be carried out using a 3 way call process which the adviser will be able to provide full details on how this works. If you choose to proceed with our recommendation, we’ll do all the paperwork and submit the application for you.

You’ll need to appoint a solicitor who specialises in equity release to act on your behalf and to provide you with independent legal advice. If your own solicitor isn’t a specialist or you’d just like some help finding a suitable solicitor, we recommend you contact the Equity Release Council who have a list of equity release solicitors. To help you understand the legal process further, we also have a guide you can download:

Download our guide to the lifetime mortgage legal process

Our number one priority is your health and safety and that of the valuers who visit your home. That is why we will arrange for an independent valuation of your home. The surveyor will call you to complete a questionnaire & understand whether it's more appropriate for a valuer to visit your property in person, or value it using publicly available information without the need to enter your home (a desktop valuation),.

You can also watch our short video about the lifetime mortgage valuation process.

If a desktop valuation is the most appropriate option, this will be completed by an independent valuer using publicly available information to assess the value of your home. This includes getting details about your property from the Land Registry and using online information to review any previous sales history. The final valuation figure will also consider the actual sale prices of similar properties in your area.

Because a desktop valuation may provide us with less information than a valuer visiting your property, we will use 95% of the desktop valuation when we calculate the amount we can lend to you.

If everything is acceptable to us, we’ll send you your Offer of Loan and the application process will continue.

Your financial adviser will be able to provide more information on the options available.

Once the valuation is done and your application is approved, we’ll send you and your solicitor the offer. Your solicitor will discuss the offer with you and make sure you understand the implications of a lifetime mortgage. It’s important to take their legal advice.

A completion date will be agreed and the money will be released to your solicitor, who will repay any existing mortgage or debt against your home. If you’ve chosen to pay the solicitor costs out of the loan, they’ll deduct these before paying the remainder to you.