Equity release

[Deleted User]

dunstonh said:

OLD_OZZY said:

My husband & I took out an Aviva Equity Release 20 years ago. Now wish to downsize from a freehold property to a cheaper leasehold flat & have accepted that we have to repay the ERC the difference.
Flat has 107 years left with a current £150 pa ground rent. Lease began in 2001, reviews every 21 years so first/next review is due 2022. Lease is subject to a statutory rent cap, the percentage increase being equal to the percentage increase of property value over the relevant period. In fact we are paying less for the flat than it was sold for 20 years ago. Lease also has a clause 'it ( the ground rent increase) would not be a premium that would effectively cause a problem'.
But the ERC solicitors, a huge global international company, refuse to accept this and are insisting on a Deed of Variation to cap the ground rent to £250pa for the next 60 years. I totally understand that this rule is to allow freeholders to reclaim the property should there be a payment default. But the freeholders are unwilling to change the current lease agreement as it would then also have to apply it to the other 15 flat owners in the building.  My husband is 82, I am 75, so we are not likely to live for another 60 years during which time the flat will have been sold on and the ERC will have regained their equity tranche anyway.
We have come to an intransigent & inflexible deadlock with the flat vendors and house purchasers threatening to pull out due to the 4 month delay in conveyancing, not to mention two very stressed out pensioners! The big global solicitors have taken days & sometimes weeks to answer our solicitor's emails/phone messages & sometimes request information that she has already given them. In other words the law company is too big to be efficient.!
After many emails & telephone calls to MANY different customer advisors, case handlers, technical directors, associates, & to CEO's themselves !! it is still stalemate.
The trouble with common sense is that it is not very common!
Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated.

I recommend you post on your own thread as your issue is not relevant to this thread and having multiple conversations on unrelated issues going on at once gets messy.  You also risk-taking this thread off-topic which is considered unfair on the original poster.

The mortgage section of this board is probably the best place to repost this.

Seems directly relevant to anyone considering Equity Release. Something they should be aware of.  Hence relevant to this thread. 

[Deleted User]

OLD_OZZY said:

My husband & I took out an Aviva Equity Release 20 years ago. Now wish to downsize from a freehold property to a cheaper leasehold flat & have accepted that we have to repay the ERC the difference.
Flat has 107 years left with a current £150 pa ground rent. Lease began in 2001, reviews every 21 years so first/next review is due 2022. Lease is subject to a statutory rent cap, the percentage increase being equal to the percentage increase of property value over the relevant period. In fact we are paying less for the flat than it was sold for 20 years ago. Lease also has a clause 'it ( the ground rent increase) would not be a premium that would effectively cause a problem'.
But the ERC solicitors, a huge global international company, refuse to accept this and are insisting on a Deed of Variation to cap the ground rent to £250pa for the next 60 years. I totally understand that this rule is to allow freeholders to reclaim the property should there be a payment default. But the freeholders are unwilling to change the current lease agreement as it would then also have to apply it to the other 15 flat owners in the building.  My husband is 82, I am 75, so we are not likely to live for another 60 years during which time the flat will have been sold on and the ERC will have regained their equity tranche anyway.
We have come to an intransigent & inflexible deadlock with the flat vendors and house purchasers threatening to pull out due to the 4 month delay in conveyancing, not to mention two very stressed out pensioners! The big global solicitors have taken days & sometimes weeks to answer our solicitor's emails/phone messages & sometimes request information that she has already given them. In other words the law company is too big to be efficient.!
After many emails & telephone calls to MANY different customer advisors, case handlers, technical directors, associates, & to CEO's themselves !! it is still stalemate.
The trouble with common sense is that it is not very common!
Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated.

Two options I can think of:
1. Give up and stay.
2. Get a good lawyer.  Sometimes a sternly worded letter from a lawyer can do a lot more than your phone calls. Also, he may be able to find issues with the original deal or advice. 

dunstonh

Deleted_User said:

dunstonh said:

OLD_OZZY said:

My husband & I took out an Aviva Equity Release 20 years ago. Now wish to downsize from a freehold property to a cheaper leasehold flat & have accepted that we have to repay the ERC the difference.
Flat has 107 years left with a current £150 pa ground rent. Lease began in 2001, reviews every 21 years so first/next review is due 2022. Lease is subject to a statutory rent cap, the percentage increase being equal to the percentage increase of property value over the relevant period. In fact we are paying less for the flat than it was sold for 20 years ago. Lease also has a clause 'it ( the ground rent increase) would not be a premium that would effectively cause a problem'.
But the ERC solicitors, a huge global international company, refuse to accept this and are insisting on a Deed of Variation to cap the ground rent to £250pa for the next 60 years. I totally understand that this rule is to allow freeholders to reclaim the property should there be a payment default. But the freeholders are unwilling to change the current lease agreement as it would then also have to apply it to the other 15 flat owners in the building.  My husband is 82, I am 75, so we are not likely to live for another 60 years during which time the flat will have been sold on and the ERC will have regained their equity tranche anyway.
We have come to an intransigent & inflexible deadlock with the flat vendors and house purchasers threatening to pull out due to the 4 month delay in conveyancing, not to mention two very stressed out pensioners! The big global solicitors have taken days & sometimes weeks to answer our solicitor's emails/phone messages & sometimes request information that she has already given them. In other words the law company is too big to be efficient.!
After many emails & telephone calls to MANY different customer advisors, case handlers, technical directors, associates, & to CEO's themselves !! it is still stalemate.
The trouble with common sense is that it is not very common!
Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated.

I recommend you post on your own thread as your issue is not relevant to this thread and having multiple conversations on unrelated issues going on at once gets messy.  You also risk-taking this thread off-topic which is considered unfair on the original poster.

The mortgage section of this board is probably the best place to repost this.

Seems directly relevant to anyone considering Equity Release. Something they should be aware of.  Hence relevant to this thread. 

The poster has a specific scenario and question relating to that.    The thread is not about the poster's issues.   

shinytop

dunstonh said:

OLD_OZZY said:

My husband & I took out an Aviva Equity Release 20 years ago. Now wish to downsize from a freehold property to a cheaper leasehold flat & have accepted that we have to repay the ERC the difference.
Flat has 107 years left with a current £150 pa ground rent. Lease began in 2001, reviews every 21 years so first/next review is due 2022. Lease is subject to a statutory rent cap, the percentage increase being equal to the percentage increase of property value over the relevant period. In fact we are paying less for the flat than it was sold for 20 years ago. Lease also has a clause 'it ( the ground rent increase) would not be a premium that would effectively cause a problem'.
But the ERC solicitors, a huge global international company, refuse to accept this and are insisting on a Deed of Variation to cap the ground rent to £250pa for the next 60 years. I totally understand that this rule is to allow freeholders to reclaim the property should there be a payment default. But the freeholders are unwilling to change the current lease agreement as it would then also have to apply it to the other 15 flat owners in the building.  My husband is 82, I am 75, so we are not likely to live for another 60 years during which time the flat will have been sold on and the ERC will have regained their equity tranche anyway.
We have come to an intransigent & inflexible deadlock with the flat vendors and house purchasers threatening to pull out due to the 4 month delay in conveyancing, not to mention two very stressed out pensioners! The big global solicitors have taken days & sometimes weeks to answer our solicitor's emails/phone messages & sometimes request information that she has already given them. In other words the law company is too big to be efficient.!
After many emails & telephone calls to MANY different customer advisors, case handlers, technical directors, associates, & to CEO's themselves !! it is still stalemate.
The trouble with common sense is that it is not very common!
Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated.

I recommend you post on your own thread as your issue is not relevant to this thread and having multiple conversations on unrelated issues going on at once gets messy.  You also risk-taking this thread off-topic which is considered unfair on the original poster.

The mortgage section of this board is probably the best place to repost this.

@OLD_OZZY There is also a thread in the over 50s forum that you could try if you want some advice (or want to warn more people!)
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5860953/equity-release-guide-discussion#latest

dunstonh

I'm surprised the board doesn't have an equity release section.    We have a thread in pensions, the mortgage section is where the equity release advisers are and shiny has posted a link to one in the over 50s forum.     It is an increasingly popular retail product, yet MSE doesn't really have a home for discussion.  Yet it has a number of pointless sub-forums in other things.

barnstar2077

dunstonh said:

I'm surprised the board doesn't have an equity release section.    We have a thread in pensions, the mortgage section is where the equity release advisers are and shiny has posted a link to one in the over 50s forum.     It is an increasingly popular retail product, yet MSE doesn't really have a home for discussion.  Yet it has a number of pointless sub-forums in other things.

It would be pretty handy if the board also had a crypto currency section in my opinion.  Then those that are sick of hearing about it wouldn't have to, and those that are enthusiastic would have somewhere to go and hang out.

westv

barnstar2077 said:

dunstonh said:

I'm surprised the board doesn't have an equity release section.    We have a thread in pensions, the mortgage section is where the equity release advisers are and shiny has posted a link to one in the over 50s forum.     It is an increasingly popular retail product, yet MSE doesn't really have a home for discussion.  Yet it has a number of pointless sub-forums in other things.

It would be pretty handy if the board also had a crypto currency section in my opinion.  Then those that are sick of hearing about it wouldn't have to, and those that are enthusiastic would have somewhere to go and hang out.

I thought we all had our pensions in bitcoin and P2P anyway.

barnstar2077

westv said:

barnstar2077 said:

dunstonh said:

I'm surprised the board doesn't have an equity release section.    We have a thread in pensions, the mortgage section is where the equity release advisers are and shiny has posted a link to one in the over 50s forum.     It is an increasingly popular retail product, yet MSE doesn't really have a home for discussion.  Yet it has a number of pointless sub-forums in other things.

It would be pretty handy if the board also had a crypto currency section in my opinion.  Then those that are sick of hearing about it wouldn't have to, and those that are enthusiastic would have somewhere to go and hang out.

I thought we all had our pensions in bitcoin and P2P anyway.

Mine is in several car park spaces, rented out on my behalf by a very professional outfit.  Well, I mean I only had one phone call from them before I signed everything over, but the guy seemed nice.  Which reminds me, I haven't heard from them recently...

Nebulous2

barnstar2077 said:

westv said:

barnstar2077 said:

dunstonh said:

I'm surprised the board doesn't have an equity release section.    We have a thread in pensions, the mortgage section is where the equity release advisers are and shiny has posted a link to one in the over 50s forum.     It is an increasingly popular retail product, yet MSE doesn't really have a home for discussion.  Yet it has a number of pointless sub-forums in other things.

It would be pretty handy if the board also had a crypto currency section in my opinion.  Then those that are sick of hearing about it wouldn't have to, and those that are enthusiastic would have somewhere to go and hang out.

I thought we all had our pensions in bitcoin and P2P anyway.

Mine is in several car park spaces, rented out on my behalf by a very professional outfit.  Well, I mean I only had one phone call from them before I signed everything over, but the guy seemed nice.  Which reminds me, I haven't heard from them recently...

Unfortunately people aren’t driving at the moment, so we would appreciate another £30k from you to maintain the car park and pay the security guard to look after it. 

barnstar2077

Nebulous2 said:

barnstar2077 said:

westv said:

barnstar2077 said:

dunstonh said:

I'm surprised the board doesn't have an equity release section.    We have a thread in pensions, the mortgage section is where the equity release advisers are and shiny has posted a link to one in the over 50s forum.     It is an increasingly popular retail product, yet MSE doesn't really have a home for discussion.  Yet it has a number of pointless sub-forums in other things.

It would be pretty handy if the board also had a crypto currency section in my opinion.  Then those that are sick of hearing about it wouldn't have to, and those that are enthusiastic would have somewhere to go and hang out.

I thought we all had our pensions in bitcoin and P2P anyway.

Mine is in several car park spaces, rented out on my behalf by a very professional outfit.  Well, I mean I only had one phone call from them before I signed everything over, but the guy seemed nice.  Which reminds me, I haven't heard from them recently...

Unfortunately people aren’t driving at the moment, so we would appreciate another £30k from you to maintain the car park and pay the security guard to look after it. 

Oh you should have said earlier.  I will borrow another 30k and send it right over.  Thanks again for your efforts, it is heart warming to know you guys are struggling on through this pandemic.