Equity release and shared ownership

Jen4M

I have an equity release lifetime mortgage on the home I solely own. I would like to know if I would be allowed to make my son who is 36 a joint owner of the property without affecting the mortgage.     

Keep_pedalling

The loan was given based on the fact that they would recover their money plus interest either on your death or if you moved into alternative accommodation, they will not allow you to gift equity to your son. 

peb

The answer is no.  Absolutely can't be done 

msb1234

if if it was owned as joint tenants then he would be equally responsible for the repayment of the equity release unpin your death. This could potentially make him homeless. 

theoretica

What do you hope to achieve?  Does your son live with you?

TBagpuss

No - to change the legal ownership of a mortgaged property, you need the consent of the mortgage lender as the change affects their security. They wouldn't grant it in this situation as they will have provided the mortgage to you based on your age and statistical life expectancy.

You probably could draw up a declaration of trust to gift your so a beneficial interest in the property but his claim would be subject to the lenders prior interest, and you'd both need advice about the implications in terms of CGT, Inheritance Tax if relevant, and deprivation of assets. 

What are you trying to achieve? 
You can make a will with your son as beneficiary, which would mean that he would inherit any remaining equity if you still own the house on your death, and he could potentially then seek to get a mortgage in his own name in order to pay off the current mortgage if he wanted to stay in the house.

Marcon

Jen4M said:

I have an equity release lifetime mortgage on the home I solely own. I would like to know if I would be allowed to make my son who is 36 a joint owner of the property without affecting the mortgage.     

As others have asked, what are you hoping to achieve? If it's avoidance of care home fees, it wouldn't work (deprivation of assets). If you are trying to do some IHT avoidance planning, then the combination of the current IHT allowance of £325K + a further residence nil rate band (if you leave the property to your son when you die) of £175K means you could leave him a property worth up to half a million pounds with no IHT payable - possibly more if you are widowed and have 'inherited' any unused IHT allowances from your late husband.