Releasing equity

[hardy49]

Having undergone a quadruple heart bypass this year my husband has decided that he would like to retire on his 60th birthday in just over two years time.However,the company pension he will receive is not enough for us to live on so we are thinking of releasing some of the equity in our home.A friend of ours had said that you can only release one fifth of the value - is this right ? We have no family and would rather,if we needed to,be able to release more than one fifth of the value

[factor-fiction]

No idea where the idea of a one fifth limit came from. You can get the 'full' value if you want, although you need proper advice so you don't find yourself being made homeless by whoever takes ownership

[buildersmate]

The charity Help The Aged may be able to provide you with general advice about these plans. However they are unable to give specific advice about one provider over another as this counts as financial advice, which is regulated by the FSA. Neither will they be able to recommend if it is a good idea in your situation.

There are 4 major types of scheme:
Home Income Plans
Shared Appreciation Mortgages
Lifetime Mortgages
Home Reversion schemes
With the first three, you borrow money secured against the value of your home and this gets paid back eventually (in different manners according to the scheme) when the home is sold.
With Home Reversion schemes, you essentially sell your home to the schemer provider in exchange for cash and become a tenant in your own home. This scheme is what factor is reffering to, though you need proper financial advice before embarking on any of them.

[Sandy-Wroe]

The last scheme, mentioned by Buildersmate, is probably best avoided. You would be offered something like 60% of the value of the house and the tenancy would only be assured for one year. At the end of that time you could find yourself homeless.
Whatever you decide to do, get good advice.

[hardy49]

Thank you all