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Equity Release for Home Owners
Adlington Law are specialist Equity Release & Private Client Lawyers based Chorley, Lancashire, although we undertake work throughout England & Wales, offering face to face appointments with our own team of Consultants for equity release cases. All these appointments are conducted in the comfort of our clients’ own homes, providing you with a more relaxed and stress-free environment in which to sign the required paperwork.
Our experienced team of legal practitioners will help explain the Equity Release process and provide a bespoke legal service to suit your needs. Every client will be assigned their own dedicated file handler who is supported by a team who will be available to help any client should their file handler be unavailable.
Our purpose is to deliver a solution and a service tailored to each individual client and to hold our clients’ hands when they need us.
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Equity Release allows you to release funds from your property if you are a homeowner over the age of 55. There are a wide variety of plans on the market, all of which can be explained to you by a fully qualified equity release financial adviser. These plans have the advantage of requiring no repayments during your lifetime. Although we will advise you about the implications and consequences of the Equity Release transaction and the legal documentation, we cannot advise you about the suitability or details of the financial product and we are not qualified as Financial Advisers.
Equity Release has now shed its bad reputation from the 90s due to the introduction of regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority (formerly the Financial Services Authority) and the extensive work of the Equity Release Council in issuing rules and guidance to all members for the benefit of the public. Once you have received your advice from a properly trained and fully authorised Financial Adviser, you will then require independent legal advice from a Solicitor. All solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority but not all solicitors are members of the Equity Release Council and it is important when choosing a solicitor that you make sure the solicitor is used to dealing with these types of cases on a regular basis.
The Benefits of Equity Release
The benefits of Equity Release are now recognised very widely, with more and more retired homeowners taking advantage of the equity built up in their home.
We can offer you expert guidance through all the procedures involved in what is likely to be one of the most important decisions of your life.
The key points of our service are:
- We provide free home visits for the face to face meeting at which you will sign the documentation.
- We are approachable and friendly.
- We provide an efficient service using state of the art information technology which ensures transactions complete as soon as possible.
- We make sure you can easily understand the process
- Our advice will always be impartial and independent
- We will act in your best interests at all times
- A full quotation for our charges is made at the outset with no hidden fees.
Our nomination for the Best Conveyancer Award at the 2018 and 2020 Equity Release Awards is testimony to the impact we have made in the Equity Release market since 2015. Our ambition and aim is always to improve the speed and efficiency of the legal services we provide to our clients and we will never rest on our laurels.
What is equity release used for?
Improving and maintaining your home is one of the most popular reasons for obtaining equity release.
It might be to upgrade existing rooms – perhaps a new bathroom or kitchen you’ve always wanted or simply some general modernisation. Some people choose to add a conservatory, but others use the money to adapt their homes to help with mobility issues. You might need a ramp or handrails for the front door, a stair lift or a walk-in bath.
Paying off debt is another common theme. Many people find that when they come to retirement, they still have outstanding credit card bills and other unsecured debts, a situation which they had not anticipated.
Paying off your mortgage might be top of the list for those who took out interest only mortgages years ago. Interest-only mortgages allow deferred capital repayments and borrowers simply repay the interest each month, so that the capital balance is still due when the mortgage finishes. Many homeowners will simply not have the money to pay off the loan or the income to justify another mortgage, so will need to raise cash to repay the balance.
Gift a living inheritance e.g. for a house deposit
Helping family members move up the housing ladder, funding private education for grandchildren or simply providing financial assistance when it is most needed is important to some who would rather see their family enjoy what would otherwise be their future inheritance while they’re still around to see it.
A survey by Saga revealed that one in five people who take out equity release use some of the money to give to family, with the average gift being nearly £30,000.
You should take additional advice on the tax implications of gifting large sums of money
Going on a holiday of a lifetime is among the things on a wish list for some retired homeowners who now have time on their hands for the first time in many years. They may wish to go on holiday with family to a holiday destination of their dreams which can become a reality they never thought possible.
Plug the pensions gap and improve your finances in retirement
Many people are using equity release to give themselves a comfortable and enjoyable retirement, thinking of their home as part of their retirement portfolio.
Private pension savings can be inadequate, and with people living so much longer, equity release can help bridge the gap between what you have and what you now require. Living costs can be high and so drawing on the cash in your home can make life a little more comfortable by plugging a large or small gap in income needs.
How does equity release work?
Advice and recommendation
The initial step in the equity release process is to have a consultation with a financial advisor. They will provide you with a tailored suitability report based on your circumstances and the products currently available in the market.
Application
Following the Financial Advisor recommendation, an application form is completed and submitted with all the necessary supporting documentation and identification.
Valuation report
Once in receipt of your application, your chosen Lender will instruct a Surveyor to contact you for the purpose of arranging a mutually convenient time for them to attend at your property for the purpose of conducting a full valuation. Once they have left your property, they will conduct a market appraisal, and then prepare their report commenting on the current value which they attach to your property, together with details of the condition of the your property to enable the Lenders to adequately assess whether your property meets with their lending criteria. Once your Lender has received and reviewed this report, they will then be able to assess how much equity can be released from your property.
Offer made
Your selected Lender will issue their offer containing their terms and conditions of the mortgage, including the amount offered, the interest rate to be applied, details of the early repayment charges which attach to your offer and any special conditions of the offer. An identical copy will be issued to your Lender’s solicitors who will, in turn, issue their own legal pack to us on your behalf. We will review the pack, prepare our own tailored advice and then arrange a face to face appointment with one of our own nationwide Consultants.
Conveyancing and legal
If you appoint us to act on your behalf, we will deal with all legal aspects of the transaction on your behalf. We will liaise with your lender’s solicitors to ensure all legal requirements are met, we will deal with all questions which are raised and we will also deal with any additional issues which may arise in relation to your property. On each occasion, we will tailor our advice to the offer that has been issued to you and you will have the benefit of your own case handler and a face to face appointment with one of our own experienced consultants who will talk you through our advice and paperwork, witness your signature on legal documents and collect from you any documents required by us to process your transaction. We will then take you through each step of the transaction and guide you through to completion.
Completion
Finally, when the lender’s solicitors have checked all the legal paperwork, they will set a completion date. The funds are then released to Adlington Law with any charges deducted. Dependent upon your preferences, the net amount will then be forwarded to your nominated bank account or posted via cheque.
Enjoy the proceeds of the monies released!
Once completion has taken place, and all funds deducted, the balance of the equity release funds will be transferred to your nominated account for you to spend in whatever way you wish.
