"These criteria changes mainly open up our products to more customers and property types, particularly to customers who reside in age-restricted properties"
The firm says it has seen growing interest in equity release from those in age-restricted properties. These are now catered for under Heritage products, providing the property is worth over £200,000 and has a resale value of under 3%. The maximum LTV available will be 2/3rds of those for standard properties.
Other changes to the criteria include flat roofs being considered up to 30%, maximum acreage is increasing from 3 to 5 acres, and leasehold properties being considered if leases have a minimum of over 100 years remaining. In addition, annexes where a carer or relative are residing will also be considered, subject to them being on the same title as the property with shared council tax and utilities. Finally, if a listed occupier is a spouse or civil partner they must now be an owner of the property and party to the mortgage.
Brendan Gilligan, head of product delivery at Pure Retirement, said: “As the market continues to grow we have a certain responsibility as a lender to continue evolving our product offering and ensuring we’re offering product solutions that meet customer needs.
"These criteria changes mainly open up our products to more customers and property types, particularly to customers who reside in age-restricted properties, an area which is somewhat underserved in the equity release market market. There are an estimated 725,000 retirement housing units in the UK and our criteria changes will allow more owners of these property types the chance to access equity in the property and support them in enjoying their later years.
"This is the first of many planned improvements to our product offering in 2020 as we continue working towards developing ambitious and innovative retirement solutions for the benefit of both of our adviser network and the end customer.”
