The equity release conveyancing process turns on a contract: an Offer of Loan, terms and conditions, a Solicitor's Certificate and a charge on your home.

A lifetime mortgage or home reversion plan is a legal contract about the place you live, so it pays to know what the papers bind you to before you sign. Before you sign, a qualified equity release adviser, working for an FCA-authorised firm, can explain what the offer binds you to, free of charge, on a phone call you arrange through this page's short form.

The papers that make up the contract

Legal & General's customer guide (DA403 04/26) lists four documents sent once an application succeeds. The Offer of Loan "has personal information about the lifetime mortgage we've offered to you"; the Terms and Conditions "outline the legal terms of your lifetime mortgage"; a Tariff of Charges lists fees; and Your Guide to Early Repayment Charges explains when those charges apply.

The Offer of Loan is where the figures personal to you are fixed. In the same guide it carries your annual Optional Partial Repayment limits, the maximum early repayment charge for each amount lent, and whether you have a Drawdown Facility, which "can only be arranged before your lifetime mortgage completes and it cannot be added later". It also sets out events of default, such as bankruptcy, which can lead the lender to withdraw a Drawdown Facility.

Equity Release Council standards, which members follow voluntarily, expect the offer document to explain when the no negative equity guarantee applies and when it does not. Legal & General's guide of 8 April 2026 says its own offers stay valid for 90 days; other lenders print their own period. Timings are on how long equity release takes.

Lifetime mortgage terms and conditions: what you agree to while you live there

Legal & General says you "must continue to meet our Terms and Conditions for the life of your mortgage", and that otherwise "you could risk losing your home as a last resort", for example where poor upkeep leaves it needing to carry out significant repairs. Your buildings insurance must cover the rebuild cost stated in its Offer of Loan.

Aviva's FAQs put the duties plainly: keep the home "in good shape", insure it, and "pay any bills, like utilities and council tax". Its guide for a borrower's representative (PF011882 02/2025) adds that a leasehold borrower must keep paying ground rent and service charges and abide by the lease, and that if you leave for care the property must not be rented out or otherwise occupied.

The Council's right to stay for life applies only while the property remains your main residence and the terms and conditions are maintained. Those are each lender's own terms, and yours are in your offer. If a term clashes with how you live, ask on this page for a no-cost call with a qualified equity release adviser ahead of signing.

When the contract says the loan must be repaid

Legal & General's guide says: "You or your estate must sell your home and repay the lifetime mortgage within 12 months of your death or move into long term care." If that does not happen, as a last resort, it "may take possession of the property or arrange the sale on your behalf". The Offer of Loan and Terms and Conditions list other circumstances when repayment in full is due.

Under Council standards, the no negative equity guarantee holds only if the home is sold for the best price reasonably obtainable and the terms have been met. Council members must waive an early repayment charge if you move permanently into long-term care, on a medical practitioner's certificate and with the terms met; repaying equity release early has the rest.

The security on your home: a legal charge, or a standard security in Scotland

The lifetime mortgage is secured on the home itself. The Regulated Activities Order, which defines a regulated mortgage contract, says a mortgage includes a charge and, in Scotland, a heritable security. Aviva's guide for a borrower's representative calls it a legal charge: the loan is repaid "before we release our legal charge from the title deed". In Scotland the 1970 Act lets a heritable security for a debt take effect only if it is embodied in a standard security, so the legal work there is Scots conveyancing.

A home reversion plan is different in kind: the Council describes it as the sale of part or all of your property, so the paperwork transfers ownership rather than securing a loan. Home reversion plans explains the product.

Do you need your house deeds? What to have ready

For the first adviser meeting, Aviva suggests gathering bank statements, details of your income and outgoings, any state benefits you receive and a reasonable idea of what your home is worth. Legal & General's pre-application checklist includes: "Appointed an independent solicitor and provided their details to your financial adviser."

Proof of ownership is chiefly the solicitors' task: the same lender's timing guide (8 April 2026) describes them confirming you are the registered owner and completing the searches. Whether your lender also wants the paper deeds is something the adviser who rings you through the form here can answer.

Signing and completion, in brief

For Council members, independent legal advice and a Solicitor's Certificate before completion are requirements, and the solicitor witnesses your signature on any document executed as a deed. The solicitor's role is on equity release solicitors.

On completion day the lender's money goes to the solicitors first, and a mortgage you still owe is a separate matter: see equity release with an existing mortgage. Afterwards Legal & General sends a "Your Lifetime Mortgage" document and an annual statement of how the debt has changed. Its arrangement fee is payable on completion and can be added to the loan, where it attracts interest; see equity release fees.

Changing the contract later

Borrowing more means new paperwork. At Legal & General a drawdown brings an Offer of Loan confirming the rate and terms for it, and a Further Advance, which cannot be applied for until the mortgage is 12 months old, comes with an Offer of Loan and acceptance form to sign and return. Equity release drawdown explains the facility.

Moving home with the loan means a valuation and an Offer of Loan confirming the transfer, which Legal & General says to discuss with your solicitor face to face. Adding a borrower needs a new application and independent financial and legal advice for both; removing one needs both to agree and to have had independent legal advice, or the loan may have to be repaid in full. See moving house with equity release.

Risks the paperwork does not remove

The main points, each set out in equity release in the UK:

  • Interest on a roll-up lifetime mortgage compounds, so the debt grows faster than it first appears.
  • Whatever you borrow reduces the estate left to your family.
  • Means-tested benefits may be affected, now or later.
  • An early repayment charge can apply if you repay before the plan ends.
  • Council standards cover fixed or capped rates, the right to stay, the right to move and the no negative equity guarantee, but they bind its members, not every lender.

Before signing, read the offer and terms with your solicitor, then put anything unclear to a qualified equity release adviser through the quote form on this page. The Council's standards explain the safeguards behind the documents.

Three more questions before you sign

How do equity release companies make their money?

From interest and fees, going by Legal & General's guide: unpaid interest is added to the loan each month, so interest is charged on interest, and its fees include an arrangement fee payable on completion. The arithmetic is on how equity release interest works.

Downsizing or equity release: which is best?

Neither is better for everyone; they ask different things of you. A lifetime mortgage leaves you in the home but with a growing debt secured on it, while downsizing means moving. Alternatives to equity release sets them side by side.

When do early repayment charges apply to a lifetime mortgage?

Aviva says you can end its lifetime mortgage early but "might have to pay a pretty big early repayment charge", and that you choose between fixed percentage and gilt index charges at the outset. Legal & General says a charge never exceeds the maximum shown in your Offer of Loan.

Sources (read 3 November 2026 unless stated): Equity Release Council, The Standards (2.0); Legal & General, DA403 04/26; Legal & General, how long equity release takes (8 April 2026); Aviva, equity release process (published 15 October 2026); Aviva, equity release FAQs (read 26 October 2026); Aviva, A guide to repaying for the borrower's representative (PF011882 02/2025); Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970, section 9; Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, article 61.