Equity release advisers must be FCA-authorised and work under qualification rules. How to find one, check the register and choose between them.

Whether the title is equity release adviser, broker, consultant or specialist, the professional you need is the same: a firm the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has authorised to advise on lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans, and an adviser who meets the FCA's competence rules for it. Finding one is the easy part. Telling them apart takes a few checks and the right questions.

Rather talk it over first? Write a name and number into this page's form, and an adviser firm will phone you back at no charge. The checks and questions below are as fair to put to that firm as to any other.

What the rules ask an equity release adviser to do

Advice is the expected route into equity release. The FCA's equity release chapter, MCOB 8, aims for customers to receive advice in all cases, with execution-only sales confined to limited exceptions set out in MCOB 8.6A, and it says a firm "must not encourage a customer to reject advice received by him on equity release transactions." Equity Release Council provider members go further: they "cannot accept execution-only business under any circumstances." MoneyHelper, the government-backed guidance service, tells the public to "first speak to a specialist equity release adviser or mortgage broker." The stages after that first conversation are in our UK equity release guide; what matters here is what the adviser owes you along the way.

Under MCOB 8.5A, a firm giving advice must take reasonable steps to make sure the plan is suitable for the customer. The factors it must consider are broader than the loan itself. They include whether the benefits outweigh "any adverse effect on" the customer's entitlement to means-tested benefits and on their tax position, the alternative ways of raising the money, the customer's preferences for their estate, their health and life expectancy, and their future plans, including a possible move. Where an adviser does not know enough about benefits or tax to reach a conclusion, the rules say the firm must send the customer to a source such as the Pension Service, HMRC or Citizens Advice.

The Council's rules for adviser members add several expectations. Advisers must evidence that they have considered and discussed all borrowing options, "including conventional residential mortgages". Members should ensure there has been a full discussion of the plan's implications for family or beneficiaries, and that the customer is advised to seek guidance, if appropriate, about reviewing or making a will. The record of the advice must be given in writing or another durable form.

The trade-offs the adviser is weighing are set out in the main equity release guide: interest compounds on a roll-up lifetime mortgage, the estate left behind is smaller (inheritance), means-tested benefits can be affected (benefits), and early repayment charges can apply. Downsizing and other options are in alternatives to equity release.

Qualifications: what the rules say and what to ask

Advising on equity release has its own competence rules in the FCA's Training and Competence sourcebook (TC). The FCA's qualification tables list "Advising on equity release transactions" as an activity and name qualifications that meet the requirement, among them the Certificate in Regulated Equity Release (formerly the Certificate in Lifetime Mortgages) and the Certificate in Equity Release (the version listed as "Post 01/05/2007").

The rules do not require the qualification on day one. Under TC 2.1.1R a firm "must not assess an employee as competent to carry on an activity" until the employee has shown the necessary competence and, where required, attained each module of an appropriate qualification, but that assessment "need not take place before the employee starts to carry on the activity." Until then the firm must supervise the employee, and the qualification must be attained within 48 months of starting. So an adviser you speak to may be qualified and assessed as competent, or still working under supervision; it is a fair thing to ask.

The Council sets its own bar for members. Its rules define an adviser as "a qualified and FCA regulated mortgage or financial adviser" who is "also qualified on later life lending including lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans". Adviser members must complete the Council's annual testing, and provider members must make sure the advisers who send them business declare that they are appropriately qualified to recommend later life lending.

Finding an adviser near you and checking them

The Equity Release Council's members directory is the search built for this. It works by postcode, with a distance from 5 to 200 miles, or by name, and a member type of adviser, solicitor or provider. A type-of-service filter separates in-person, telephone and digital meetings, which widens the choice if no member is close by. MoneyHelper's equity release guide points to the same directory, and its general adviser guide adds the Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA), whose accredited later-life advisers can be searched by location and by advice type, equity release included.

Council membership and FCA authorisation are separate things. The Council is "a voluntary trade body", and the protections it lists come only with products that meet its standards; a member adviser who suggests a product outside them has to explain why and what the risks are. Authorisation is the legal requirement, and the FCA Register is where to confirm it. Three things are worth looking for there:

  • The right permission. The Firm Checker shows whether a firm is authorised and whether it has permission for the service you want. Look for a permission that covers equity release, not just the firm's name on the list.
  • The individual. The Register is a public record of individuals as well as firms, so the person advising you can be looked up too, and the phone number and address you hold can be compared with those on record.
  • Who the principal is. An appointed representative carries out activities for another firm, its principal. The FCA says you can ask the principal what the representative is permitted to do and how you would be protected if something went wrong.

A firm that is not on the Register at all is one MoneyHelper says not to use, and the same guide warns never to make a payment because of a cold call, email or text.

What range an adviser covers and how they are paid

The FCA's equity release rules frame this as a question of range. MCOB 8.3.2B says there is one relevant market for equity release, and firms must make their range clear: a firm offering only lifetime mortgages, or only home reversion plans, must say it is limited in that respect. The chapter's purpose section adds that firms need to make clear the basis of their remuneration. MoneyHelper's general guide draws the wider distinction between independent advisers, who look across the whole market, and restricted ones, tied to some providers or one product area, such as a high street bank's mortgage adviser, who can usually recommend only that bank's products.

A narrow range does not narrow the duty. Under MCOB 8.5A.17G, where advice is based on a single or limited number of providers, the suitability assessment should not be limited to what the firm offers, and "if a firm only has access to lump sum equity release transactions it should not recommend or arrange one of these if approached by a customer requiring regular payments." So ask any adviser, including the firm that calls back after you use this page's form, which lenders it arranges plans with and whether it covers lifetime mortgages, home reversion plans or both. How advisers work with one lender shows a single-lender route in practice, and comparing equity release providers covers the products themselves.

On pay, the Council's Consumer Charter says fees and charges will "all be clearly explained". Many advisers, MoneyHelper says, do not publish fees and "often offer a free meeting" in which they explain what you would pay; it suggests contacting at least three. Published figures, from lenders' own pages, are in equity release fees.

Money can also pass between professionals. Council adviser members "must not accept financial inducements from any third parties directly involved in the lifetime mortgage or home reversion application", providers and solicitors included, when directing specific customers to another service. Marketing contributions fall outside that only when agreed transparently and used solely for general promotion rather than to influence specific recommendations, and even then "full disclosure of any such arrangements should be provided to the customer". If an adviser suggests a solicitor, ask whether any such arrangement exists.

The solicitor is a second, separate professional

The adviser recommends a plan; a solicitor explains its legal obligations, risks and rewards. Under the Council's standards every customer gets independent legal advice when first taking out equity release, from a solicitor of their own choosing, one from the Council's directory or one the adviser suggests, and where the provider is a member, provider and customer are separately represented. The advice must come before completion, a solicitor's certificate signed by solicitor and customer must be in place, and the solicitor must meet the customer face to face, which the standards define as a physical meeting, not a phone or video call. These are standards for Council members rather than law. Choosing a solicitor is covered in why you need a solicitor for equity release, and the paperwork in the conveyancing process.

In Scotland the lender's security is different. Section 9(3) of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 means that a right over land granted to secure a debt can only take legal effect as a standard security, so a lifetime mortgage on a Scottish home is secured that way rather than by a mortgage charge. Check that the solicitor acts on Scottish property before you instruct them.

Questions to put to an adviser before you choose one

Use these when you speak to an adviser, ideally with two or three firms side by side.

  • Are you and your firm on the FCA Register, and are you an appointed representative of another firm?
  • Which qualification do you hold for advising on equity release, and does it cover both lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans?
  • Are you a member of the Equity Release Council, and what happens if a plan you suggest does not meet its standards?
  • Which lenders can you arrange plans with? Do you advise on all types of equity release?
  • What will I pay you in total, when, and what happens to that fee if I decide not to go ahead?
  • Do you receive anything from lenders or solicitors for referring me, and will you tell me in writing?
  • Will you look at other ways of raising the money, including a conventional mortgage, and at how this affects my benefits and my estate?
  • Can my family come to the meeting, and will you give me a written suitability report and a Key Facts Illustration?

How the answers fit depends on your home, age, benefits and family. Matching these answers to your own circumstances is something to do alongside a qualified equity release adviser; requesting that call, without charge, takes moments using the form on this page, whenever suits you.

Questions people ask about equity release advisers

Is a broker different from an adviser?

MoneyHelper uses "specialist equity release adviser or mortgage broker" together and points to the same checks for both. Whatever the label, look for FCA authorisation covering equity release and a qualification to match.

How do I find an equity release adviser near me?

Start with the Equity Release Council's directory or SOLLA, both searchable by location. The Council's directory can also filter for telephone and digital meetings, so a nearby office matters less than the checks above; confirm the firm on the FCA Register before you share personal details.

Where can I get free advice on equity release?

Free guidance, as opposed to advice, is available from MoneyHelper, and many advisers offer a free first meeting. MoneyHelper warns that the fees for advice, solicitors, valuation and arrangement can be substantial; equity release fees goes into the costs.

What can I do if I think I was given unsuitable advice?

MoneyHelper's steps are to tell the adviser's firm why you are unhappy, wait up to 8 weeks for a reply, and then "take your complaint to the free Financial Ombudsman Service". If the firm has gone out of business, you can complain to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme instead.

Next step

Choosing an adviser is the first decision in a process that is hard to reverse, so take it slowly, with MoneyHelper's free guidance to read beforehand if that helps. For a qualified equity release adviser's view of your own home and plans, try the form on this page first; whether to go ahead stays your decision throughout.

Sources: FCA Handbook, MCOB 8 Equity release: advising and selling standards; FCA Handbook, TC App 4 and TC 2; FCA, Firm Checker and Financial Services Register; Equity Release Council, The Standards (V2.0, May 2025), Our Standards, Members Directory and Consumer Charter; MoneyHelper, Equity release explained and How to choose a financial adviser (both read from web archive snapshots of September 2026); Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970, section 9.