Many people find Equity Release or Lifetime Mortgages an effective way of generating readily accessible capital from their home.
Battrick Clark Solicitors of Bristol are available to provide you with the best legal advice and assistance when considering or entering into any equity release or lifetime mortgage scheme.
Equity Release Explained
Equity Release means releasing some of the value of a property you own as finance while continuing to enjoy the use of the property. There are many reasons why people might want to do this. Among the most popular are:
- When you are retired and own your home but want to supplement your pension to meet your costs of living, it can make sense to gradually release equity from the value of your home over many years so that you have more money to live off in your retirement.
- When you own your home but a major cost that you cannot meet out of income or savings arises, such as funding a family wedding, children’s higher education, or private medical treatment, equity release can free up the funds you need to pay for it
- To fund a holiday or to carry out home improvements
Types of Equity Release Scheme
Equity Release Schemes are divided into Lifetime Mortgages and Home Reversion Schemes. Here we will explain the distinguishing features of each.
Lifetime Mortgages
Lifetime Mortgages involve borrowing part of the value of your home without the requirement to make repayments during the rest of your lifetime. The lender will charge compound interest at a declared rate of interest on the lifetime mortgage.
Upon your eventual death, the lender will be entitled to the repayment by your estate of the original sum borrowed together with the interest. How your estate chooses to repay this is entirely up to your executor. In most cases, it would make sense for your home to be sold in order to free up the funds required for repaying the loan. But if your heirs want to keep your home and have other means of repaying the borrowing, this would be entirely possible.
Under current regulations in England and Wales, there is a minimum age requirement of 55 for most lifetime mortgages.
Home Reversion Schemes
Home Reversion Schemes involve the sale of a declared percentage share of your home to a provider of capital finance. The finance provider will generally pay a below-market price for the share of your home that is bought by it. But you will not owe any interest.
You will have the right to stay in your home for as long as you live, or until you decide to sell it, whichever comes first. If you decide to sell it, the part-owner with will be entitled to its due percentage share of the sale value of the property. If you die before it is sold, your estate will generally be expected to sell it in order to repay the finance provider.
Under current regulations in England and Wales, you need to be aged at least 65 to be eligible for home reversion schemes.
Navigating Equity Release
Although it works well for many people, equity release may not be the correct solution for everyone – and it is always prudent to explore other avenues before proceeding.
Battrick Clark advises clients on the technicalities of the selected scheme to ensure that our clients fully understand the implications of the scheme throughout its term and the effect of the scheme on inheritance issues. Battrick Clark works completely independently and we have only our clients’ interests to protect.
We charge a fixed fee, which will be explained at the outset and which becomes payable once the scheme is in place.
What Our Conveyancing Clients Say
Thank you so very much to Andrea Jefferies, what a true professional. Hard working, calm, polite, diligent and patient. I have just completed a very difficult, stressful and challening sale of a leasehold property.
Nothing fazed Andrea, fantastic, good communication and dedicated to get the job done. I am most grateful to her and Battrick Clark.
Great value, efficient and I recommend them, will certainly be using this firm again.
Competitive charges and I found Kaye Taylor very easy to get hold of and she always returned calls promptly.
I have just completed a sale of a every difficult stressful and trying leasehold flat, I used this firm and found Andrea Jefferies to have been most helpful, thorough, patient and hard working. A credit to the firm and a very nice personable lady with a sense of humour too. Great value for money great service and highly recommended. Many thanks to you Battrick Clark.
Brilliant- couldn’t ask for more. We have just used Battrick Clark for the sale of my mother’s house. Emma was brilliant and efficient. I would definitely use her again.
Faultless, fast and friendly
Very competitive pricing for my recent conveyance work on a sale. The service was good, most efficient, great communications, always polite and patient.
Wouldn’t hesitate to use them again and recommend to anyone.
Many thanks Andrea J
Positive: Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness
The team at Battrick Clark Solicitors were a pleasure to work with as they supported me with conveyancing during what was a very busy time for them. They maintained a high standard of communication and the quality of their work was commendable throughout. Would highly recommend their services. Thank you very much to [our solicitor] and the team for their hard work.
We moved house during the pandemic and used Battrick Clark for conveyancing for both our sale and our purchase. Throughout the process Emma was responsive, helpful and really made a difficult time much easier. She was superb in finally getting us to our new home. I really hope we won’t be moving again any time soon but when we do, we’ll certainly use Battrick Clark. And in the meantime, we’ll be enthusiastically recommending the firm!
Positive: Professionalism
I used Battrick Clark Solicitors to purchase a flat in Bristol. They are very efficient and have a streamlined process, which helps a lot in the current situation.
My solicitor Emma is very friendly and extremely helpful. She has done an amazing work for the conveyance. It was an absolute pleasure working with her. I would definitely recommend her to my friends.
Positive: Professionalism, Quality, Responsiveness, Value
Ruth Sampson was excellent through our purchase and sale. She kept us updated throughout the process and made sure we had exchanged and completed as we requested. I would highly recommend using Battrick Clark for any conveyancing needs. Ruth was brilliant!
Great value and great service. Andrea took care of everything and stood by us during one failed sale and into the next more successful deal. Really proactive and good attention to detail. I would strongly recommend them and would use them again in the future. Thanks very much and well done!
Myself and my partner recently bought our first house through Battrick Clark and [they] made the whole experience so easy for us. [They] helped us through every step of the process and we couldn’t of asked for a better service! I would highly recommend and use Summer again.
Dealt with my case a few years ago when I had to take my ex off of my mortgage. Very quick and reliable and professional
Thank you Kaye Taylor of Battrick Clark.
Buying your first home is never easy, you’ve got estate agents, mortgage providers, seller solicitors & surveyors to deal with. We had Kaye dealing with our purchase. Kaye was brilliant, really efficient, kept us up-to-date and argued our corner when needed. Thanks again, Dave & Em.
Highly recommended. [The solicitors] are excellent in their communication and execution of my instruction to them. They dealt professional[ly] with a South-African attorney who handled the sale of my property there.
Fantastic experience using Battrick Clark for both my BTL company purchases. All emails and calls were responded to promptly, our Solicitor Ruth Sampson had a very professional and proactive approach which resulted in both transactions going through really quickly. Would highly recommend this firm particularly our Solicitor Ruth Sampson, she was brilliant in every aspect.
[Our solicitor] was really helpful and efficient all the way through and was also very easy to contact. I highly recommend her and the firm.
Edward Payne
I used Battrick Clark to purchase my first home, Ruth Sampson was our solicitor and was fantastic throughout the whole process responding to calls and emails very promptly. I would highly recommend Battrick Clark and would use them again.
Andrea Jefferies is an astounding solicitor and a joy to work with… I would definitely recommend this firm after having multiple experiences.
Used Battrick Clark for both my partner’s divorce and conveyancing when we recently moved – were great on both occasions.
Helen Battrick and her team at Battrick Clark are all absolute superstars. I recommend them to all my clients for their conveyancing for NEXA Bristol and they never fail to provide a 5* service.
Battrick Clark and especially Kaye Taylor provided an excellent service and helped us complete our house deal on schedule with minimal fuss. I would highly recommend this company to anyone looking for property solicitors.
We have just completed on our house sale and purchase. Despite set backs and buyers from hell, Sinead Jest from Battrick Clark was the most pleasant and efficient person I have dealt with. She was always on top of matters and helped to ensure that the process went to completion. I would have no hesitation in recommending her
I had the difficult task of selling my Mum’s house when she went into Care. Battrick Clark, and Andrea in particular were professional and knowledgeable, a mere 8 weeks from start to completion. Andrea was a pleasure to deal with, keeping me informed every step of the way and ensuring that everything was in order, resulting in a smooth and trouble free sale.
I used Battrick Clark for the sale of my house and the purchase of the new one. Kaye Taylor handled both the sale and purchase. She replied promptly to emails and returned all my calls. She gave me as much time as I needed, and was patient with my many questions. I would definitely recommend them. And the friendly receptionist answered all my calls immediately.
Andrea was great and I would highly recommend this firm. Their service was profession, friendly, efficient and helpful throughout my conveyancing process.
I am incredibly grateful to Sinead Jest for her help over the last year trying to buy a house. At one point she saved us nearly £50k by identifying an issue in the deeds and despite repeated communications and issues never queried the cost and when some extra work came up still refused to charge any more. I am so happy to have found a firm I can trust. They may not be the cheapest outright but I can never thank Sinead enough for her help and they’ll be my first choice in future.
Used this firm to conduct the sale of my property via “moneysaver”. Great value. Great service. Great communications. I live Overseas and this was no obstacle in a difficult transfer. They were very helpful, polite and nothing seemed to be a problem and always patient. I had the pleasure of Andrea Jefferies conducting my business highly professional, hard working and most affable. Thank you.
RECOMMENDED without a second thought !!
Andrea was just superb throughout a relatively complex and sometimes fraught series of conveyancing transactions. Calm, thoughtful, wonderfully responsive, Andrea provided great counsel and advice. Highly recommended.
I have used Battrick Clark for over 17 years for various property purchases. In the last couple of years Ellie Green has dealt with the transactions and has been extremely efficient. Responses to emails and queries are turned around within 24 hours, unheard of for most lawyers. The only hold up you will get in a house purchase will be from the other side.
Highly recommend.
I’ve used Battrick Clark on several occasions for property sales, despite not living in the area. Andrea Jefferies is by far the most efficient solicitor I have ever dealt with.
I have no hesitation in recommending.
Andrea at Battrick Clark went above and beyond my expectations, I live in the USA and they helped me with the sale of my property in Bristol. Good communication and customer service all round even though I was in another country. Highly recommended, good job.
We have just exchanged on our purchase whilst using Battrick Clark Solicitors. We had Sinead Jest working on our behalf who is a trainee solicitor, and who was absolutely brilliant. Replied to emails and queries so quickly, and always did her best to help us throughout the whole process. We can’t thank her enough. She was absolutely lovely.
I used these guys for a re-mortgage and transfer of equity for a shared ownership property. Not only were Battrick Clark competitive on price, the service I received from Andrea, going the extra mile to deliver, keep in touch with status updates were beyond my expectations. Would strongly recommend.
Excellent service as always Andrea Jeffries is the most efficient conveyancer I have ever dealt with. Highly recommended
I used Battrick Clark to sell my house and they were brilliant. The buyer was a nightmare as were the estate agents so Andrea at Battrick Clark took control of the whole thing and really helped resolve what was a nightmare of a sale. They even had fixed fees with no sale – no fee arrangement. I can’t fault the service at all.
We really appreciated Ruth Sampson at Battrick Clark hard work to successfully get us to completion. Especially difficult when we instructed her at the start of lockdown! She made it all very straight forward and we really appreciated the attention to detail and all the communication. We think you are brilliant!
We used Battrick as conveyancer’s for our house purchase. Emma was professional, responsive, helpful and had a finger on the pulse at all times. Emma really made the process a lot less stressful and kept us updated at every stage of the process. I couldn’t recommend Battrick Clark enough.
