Step-by-step guide

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, no pushy sales tactics and no advice fee. We will also check you meet our eligibility criteria, which will mainly focus on property type and ownership, as well as confirming your age. If you're over 50 you may be eligible for our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage. If you're over 55 you may be eligible for any of our later life mortgages.

If you meet the eligibility criteria and would like to progress, we can then arrange a convenient time for our adviser to call you.

They can even join your calls and come to adviser meetings, if you want to include them.

The next person you will speak to is your personal adviser. You'll have the option when booking the appointment to have the meeting as a telephone or video call, whichever you prefer.

Ahead of your meeting, you'll be sent a short biography and photo of your adviser, so that you know exactly who you’re talking to when they introduce themselves.

During the call your adviser will gain a deeper understanding of your financial circumstances and discuss any particular needs.The information gathered by the adviser will then be taken away to create a personalised recommendation for you.

On the 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 three-way 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.

It's important you appoint a solicitor who is qualified to help you with the option you have applied for.

Lifetime mortgage

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, we do have a panel of solicitors available who we work closely with.

Alternatively, you can contact the Equity Release Council which has 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.

Retirement Interest Only Mortgage

Your adviser will inform you if you need to appoint a conveyancer. This is a solicitor who deals with the property, contracts and any documentation needed. To help you understand the legal process further, we also have a guide you can download

Download our guide to the Retirement Interest Only Mortgage legal process

Once we have received your application, the next step is for your property to be valued by our independent valuers. Our number one priority is your health and safety and that of the valuers who visit your home. That is why Legal & General Home Finance will arrange for a free independent valuation of your home for all new applications

There's two ways of carrying out a mortgage valuation:

• a physical valuation, where a valuer will visit your property and carry out an external and internal assessment.
• a desktop valuation, which does not require a valuer to visit your property.
  
  The surveyor will call you to complete a questionnaire and 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).

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 complete 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 later life mortgage. It’s important to take their legal advice before you sign and accept the offer.

If you have applied for a later life mortgages you must insure your property for at least the amount set out in your Mortgage Offer. This should be sufficient to cover the cost of rebuilding the property.

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's costs out of the loan, they’ll deduct these before paying the remainder to you.