Equity Release

With often considerable wealth tied up in their property, many mature homeowners are looking to release equity from their homes rather than downsize in today’s property market. Equity release is one way to help fund your retirement or to provide your children with cash for a house deposit.

There are many reasons why equity release may be the best solution for you and your family. It can allow you to maintain the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed and provide a regular income during retirement, enabling you to live out your later years in comfort. Equity release can also form part of your Inheritance Tax mitigation strategy, enabling your beneficiaries to keep more of your hard-earned wealth.

There are two main types of equity release:

• Lifetime mortgage

This is a mortgage secured against your property that does not need to be repaid until you either go into long-term care or pass away. A lifetime mortgage allows you to retain full ownership of your property.

• Home reversion

This involves selling your home to a specialist company in return for a cash lump sum, a regular income, or a mixture of the two. However, contrary to a regular property sale, a home reversion allows you to continue living in your property until you either pass away or go into long-term care.

How Attwaters Jameson Hill can help

Our specialist team of equity release solicitors, led by our experienced Senior Associate Andrew Moore, can help you with the necessary legal work so you can proceed with your plans.

We will work closely with your independent financial adviser or equity release broker to make sure you understand the proposed type of equity release product and how it may impact your estate and family. If you are interested in a lifetime mortgage, we’ll explain the legal process step by step and keep you informed throughout.

Specialist equity release solicitors

If you are considering releasing equity from your home, you need expert legal advice from an equity release solicitor, as unlocking cash from your property isn’t as simple as signing for a bank loan. With a lifetime mortgage, you retain ownership of your home. As your equity release lawyers, we will need to check the title on behalf of the lender, pay off any existing mortgage and register the loan against your property. Unlike a traditional mortgage, you don’t pay monthly interest, as interest on the loan is compounded and secured against your property.

As the lifetime mortgage and compounded interest is repayable if you move into long-term care or pass away, the legal work must be spot on so it does not create any problems for you or your family if you decide to downsize later on, or if your family eventually need to sell your property.

As well as working with your financial adviser, we can also make sure that your decision to release equity works with your existing Will and estate planning. If you require further estate planning support,  our expert Will and Trust team can advise you about the impact of equity release on your estate and Will and any potential Inheritance Tax liability. As a full-service law firm, we can ensure that you and your family get the joined-up legal advice you need to release cash from your family home with the peace of mind of knowing that all the legalities are taken care of.

Why choose us

We know that you’ll want an expert on your side if you are planning on releasing equity from your home. Our Head of Equity Release, Andrew Moore, has over 33 years of experience as a residential property expert and our firm is a member of the Equity Release Council (ERC). The Council represents the equity release sector and promotes high standards of conduct and equity release practice to safeguard your interests. We have also been awarded the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation in recognition of our exceptional standards of client service, professional expertise and risk management.

Just as importantly, if you decide to instruct us to handle your equity release transaction, you will benefit from the latest systems and software for maximum speed and accuracy, combined with a friendly and personalised service that meets your unique needs . All Attwaters clients also benefit from our Service Pledge – our promise to be friendly, respectful and contactable at all times, to ensure that all problems are accompanied by solutions, and to always have your best interests at heart.

Call us today

For further information or a quote please contact Andrew Moore

Call us on 0330 221 8855, email us or contact us online