How Old Do You Have to be for Equity Release?

What’s the Age Limit for Equity Release?

Yes, there is an age limit for equity release: 55 for a Lifetime Mortgage. You can’t release equity from your home if you’re under 55. You and your husband are both slightly too young to make use of Equity Release.

The age limit for a Home Reversion Plan, where you sell part of your home to an Equity Release provider, is even higher, at 60.

You say that you don’t have much in the way of pension savings, but there is still plenty of time to start saving at least something before you reach state pension age.

An Equity Release Lifetime Mortgage is typically a lifelong commitment, and there can be steep early repayment charges if you decide you want to come out of your plan early. It will also affect how much any beneficiaries you have can inherit from your property, so you need to be sure this is the right option for you.

Equity Release for the Over-55s

If you were over 55 and eligible to consider equity release there are a number of other qualifying criteria you’ll need to meet before you can release cash from your home.

Firstly, the home must be worth at least £70,000 and must not be one of the following types of property:

• Flats of maisonettes in a local authority or housing authority block of more than four storeys
• Static / mobile homes
• Houseboats
• Farms
• Hotels, guest houses and B&Bs.

If you’re unsure as to whether your property qualifies for Equity Release, it’s best to check with your adviser.

As well as being over 55 and having a qualifying property, you need to own the home outright or be using the equity release loan first and foremost to pay off the mortgage.

If you meet all of these criteria, then Equity Release could be an avenue to explore. The first step is to use our calculator to find out how much cash you could release from your home.

Note that Equity Release will reduce the value of your estate and could impact your entitlement to certain means-tested benefits.