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Equity release made clear

If you’re retired and living on your pension, you may be finding money is a bit tight. If you own your own home and are in your mid-50s or over, you may be thinking about equity release because it could provide you with a lump sum or additional income. You might also consider equity release for tax-planning reasons.

In this section, you’ll find out how equity release schemes work and what you might think about before starting one. Our Jargon buster will also make equity release much clearer.

If you’d like more detailed information get our Equity release schemes – Raising money from your home booklet. You can download it at Publications, where you can also order it online.

Before considering equity release

It’s important to check whether there are other ways you could meet your financial needs before choosing an equity release scheme. Some ways might be to:

  • claim any benefits you might be entitled to;
  • check to see if your local authority can help you to pay for essential home improvements;
  • trace any pensions you may have lost track of, using the Pension Tracing Service;
  • use your savings or sell your investments, but consider getting advice before doing so; and/or
  • sell up and buy somewhere smaller and cheaper (downsize).

What is equity release?

Equity release is a way of getting cash from the value of your home. These schemes can be helpful in certain circumstances but are not suitable for everyone. For example, they can be expensive and inflexible if your circumstances change in the future and may affect your current or future entitlement to State benefits.

How does it work?

One way is to borrow a lump sum secured against your home. Another way is to sell part or all of your home to give you a regular income or lump sum, or both. You can continue to live there.

You will most likely need to have paid off your mortgage, or have a very small outstanding mortgage to qualify for an equity release scheme.