Equity release urgent repair to roof

grahamd01

Hi all, my cousin has just lost his mother, and has inherited her house (he has always lived with her), its been a nightmare getting the house put into his name, but that's now in the past).
The house urgently needs a new roof, and estimates are around the £14K mark, he has just turned 66 and has never worked due to medical conditions (he never even claimed pip or dole, instead his late mother gave him pocket money). Other than the house (valued at £210k as is) he has no savings or access to any other funds (his mother had £100 in the bank when she died).
We have tried to help him by arranging a specialist to assist in obtaining equity release from the property and have had two valuers say they would not lend until the roof is repaired/replaced, but he cannot afford the work without the equity release? We have tried the council to see if he could get a grant or similar, but they say no. The valuers state the roof needs to be replaced and they cannot loan until this is done. 

We have looked at a bridging loan for £20k to cover the almost £4k they want up front for arranging and legal documents, and even then the interest is scary, for someone like him who has never even had a bank account. Before we go blindly down the bridging loan option, can any please offer any advise? 

Flugelhorn

Think long term. OK he probably wants to stay the house for ever but if the roof is bad , then what next ? this will just be the first money-muncher.

Would he consider selling and getting somewhere else smaller? easier to maintain?

lisyloo

Has he thought about selling the house as is?

How much increase in value does he expect to get by fixing the roof? and does that cover the finance (plus the hassle).

MattMattMattUK

grahamd01 said:

Hi all, my cousin has just lost his mother, and has inherited her house (he has always lived with her), its been a nightmare getting the house put into his name, but that's now in the past).
The house urgently needs a new roof, and estimates are around the £14K mark, he has just turned 66 and has never worked due to medical conditions (he never even claimed pip or dole, instead his late mother gave him pocket money). Other than the house (valued at £210k as is) he has no savings or access to any other funds (his mother had £100 in the bank when she died).
We have tried to help him by arranging a specialist to assist in obtaining equity release from the property and have had two valuers say they would not lend until the roof is repaired/replaced, but he cannot afford the work without the equity release? We have tried the council to see if he could get a grant or similar, but they say no. The valuers state the roof needs to be replaced and they cannot loan until this is done. 

We have looked at a bridging loan for £20k to cover the almost £4k they want up front for arranging and legal documents, and even then the interest is scary, for someone like him who has never even had a bank account. 

This could be a major problem, does the state even know he exists? He will have no NI record so getting a pension etc. is going to be difficult. I would recommend you speak to Citizen's Advise ASAP. He needs his own bank account and if he does not have capacity you need to get all the relevant legal provisions in place to allow you to manage his affairs. 

grahamd01 said:

Before we go blindly down the bridging loan option, can any please offer any advise? 

You need to get the rest of his affairs in order first and being realistic no one is going to lend to him until you do, as he has no income. Once he has an income from benefits then you can potentially look at a loan but that is likely to be several months away in a best case scenario. 

Once things are in order equity release is likely to be a very expensive idea, it would likely make more sense to sell the house, move to a flat and then have significant equity to use whilst not burning away the majority of it as interest. 

grahamd01

Thanks for the fast replies, we had suggesting auctioning the house, but he will not hear of it, insists on staying (he has lived in it for 55 years). Originally we were looking to release about £50k that would have paid for the roof, a wet room, new kitchen and a downstairs toilet to be installed.

grahamd01

When his late mother died, we managed to get him on income support, so he now has a bank etc, and has just started to get his pension as he has reached pension age.

grahamd01

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