Can you get Equity Release on a Leasehold Property?

Get a Lifetime Mortgage in a Leasehold Property 

Yes, you can get equity release (a lifetime mortgage) on a leasehold property subject to the lease and property meeting your lender’s criteria.  

You can get equity release on both kinds of property type: 

• Leasehold flats. 
• Leasehold houses.  

Your lender will be interested in the length of the lease, your age, or the age of your partner if they are younger, and how many years are left on the lease along with the terms and conditions.

Each lender will have different criteria surrounding leasehold properties so it’s important to seek mortgage advice from an experienced later life advisor.

What are the costs?

Your equity release lender will look at the charges included in your lease such as: 

• Ground rent. 
• Service charges. 
• Insurance costs. 
• Any other commitments.  

There are rules and regulations surrounding how much some of these costs are for mortgage companies therefore a thorough check is completed.

If you do not have enough years left on the lease for your lender, most will let you do a lease extension application at the same time to meet the criteria. Your equity release application will only be completed once your lease extension has been actioned.

A lease extension will incur additional legal fees, however, but it’s better for the resale value of the property.  The additional legal fees will need to be factored into the overall cost for you for your consideration and whether you still want equity release.

As with all equity release plans, there may be other products and services more suitable for you and your situation such as regular mortgages or retirement interest only (RIO) options for leasehold properties.  

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