Second legal charge on property

[dimlo]

We want to lend some money to an elderly relative and take out a second charge on her house, which is already mortgaged. Do we need a solicitor to arrange this and how much would it cost?

[denby04]

Please be careful. 2nd mortgages are expensive and Secured Loans on property have high interest rates and can have variable rates so they can increase the payments. An easy way to check is to multiply the monthly payment by the number of months you intend to borrow over. This will tell you approximately how much you will pay back compared to what you borrow. I have seen paperwork on these kind of loans whereby people borrow say �25k and end up paying in excess of �70k

[buildersmate]

Why not suggest to aforementioned elderly relative that they consider looking at equity release schemes, rather than borrowing from you.