Lending criteria FAQs

Our lifetime mortgages do consider a variety of properties in view of, opposite, or adjacent to non-residential and commercial premises.

For full details on which lifetime mortgage would be best suited for your client’s property, you can find a useful overview of proximity to commercial properties in our proximity to commercial properties blog post, search through our lending criteria online, or call your regional Sales team. You can find their contact details with our ‘Find my BDM’ map.

No, we do not accept freehold flats or maisonettes. We can consider freehold houses or bungalows.

All of our lifetime mortgages can consider leasehold flats or apartments where an applicant owns part or all of the freehold property. This lending criteria varies depending on the type of lifetime mortgage. Here is a useful overview:

For more detail, review the each individual product’s lending criteria which you can find on our lifetime mortgages pages.

Yes, we can consider ex-council/ local authority houses on all of our products, subject to surveyors’ comments and assessments.

We would also require that the properties meet a minimum value:

• Sovereign - £70k
• Classic - £150k (50% or more properties on the street need to be privately owned, between 40-49.9% can be considered)
• Emerald – £150k (60% or more properties on the street need to be privately owned)
• Heritage – £100k (For maisonettes, 40% or more properties on the street need to be privately owned, no minimum for houses)

You can look-up more lending criteria questions with our online tool or contact your regional Telephone Business Development Manager directly. Find them on our BDM map.

We can consider properties with an annex across our lifetime mortgages. Please note, any occupiers of an annex who are over 17 will need to sign a deed of consent. Here’s an overview of annex eligibility:

Each of our lifetime mortgages has a useful lending criteria overview, which serves as a useful summary for now or future references. View the lending overviews under product documents. These can also be accessed via the “document library” on our broker portal. Log in here to view them.

The resaleability of the property is the reason flood zones are checked to assess a property’s value in the long-term.

Several of our lifetime mortgage products accept properties in the Environmental Agency’s national flood zone model. We created an in-depth blog that details more information about this topic, which you can read here.

Alternatively, you can contact your regional Telephone Business Development Manager (TBDM) who can look-up your client’s address and confirm if the property meets the lending criteria of our lifetime mortgages. Find the contact details of your regional TBDM with our handy map.

Flat roofs remain one of our most common lifetime mortgage lending criteria queries, as flat roofs are bound by considerations on the increased upkeep, and the ability for the property to be sold (especially as most lifetime mortgages are redeemed following the sale of the property once the last borrower has died or entered into long-term care).

Here is an overview of our lifetime mortgage eligibility for flat roofs. Please note these can be subject to change, the roofs being in good condition and approval is subject to surveyor’s comments.

For more in-depth information, read our flat roofs and eligibility blog, or explore our lending criteria documentation. You can also reach out directly to your Intermediary Sales teams.