An equity release valuation is an independent check of what your home is worth. It helps decide whether a lender will lend, how much and on what terms.
This page is about lifetime mortgages, a type of equity release. How your own home would be valued depends on the home and the lender. A qualified equity release adviser can raise its features with lenders before you commit to anything; the form on this page, sent with your number, has one phone you, free of charge. Lenders change their terms, so check any figure here against your own illustration.
What the valuer is there to decide
Aviva's process page says that once the application is submitted, the adviser also arranges an independent valuation of the home. Legal & General describes an independent expert who visits, checks the property against the lender's suitability criteria and looks at the sale prices of similar local properties. That figure "might be different from an estate agent’s one, because it won’t be a marketing figure or suggested asking price". So the number is a lender's assessment, not a listing.
The condition of the home counts alongside the number. Aviva's adviser criteria (PF011331 03/2026) put in the not-acceptable list a home with "an unacceptable amount of stored goods, clutter or are otherwise poorly maintained at the time of the valuation inspection". L&G's criteria (DA836 06/26) refer to "properties deemed unacceptable by a valuer due to major restrictions on saleability", and Just's guide (JM 00341.21 05/2026) has a line for properties that, in the surveyor's opinion, are not readily saleable. Flats bring building-level questions of their own, which are on the flats page.
Who pays for the valuation
Each lender states its own position, so the table gives it in that lender's words.
| Lender and document | What it says about the valuation fee |
|---|---|
| Aviva, Tariff of Charges (PF01459 01/2025) | "You’re not required to pay an upfront valuation fee if the estimated value of your property is up to and including £5 million." Over £5 million, the fee is in the personalised illustration, and some offshore islands and remote locations carry an extra travel charge. A re-inspection costs £60, which includes a £15 administration fee. |
| Aviva, process page (15 October 2026) | The valuation is arranged by the adviser and "You may have to pay for this up front." |
| Legal & General, costs page and equity release overview (both read 20 October 2026) | The costs page says it arranges an independent valuation and does not charge a fee for it. The overview page lists "valuation, survey and electronic transfer fees" among the costs of setting up a lifetime mortgage. |
| Pure Retirement, Classic at a Glance (PR01557 0826) | Valuation fee: "Free". Its Heritage guide (PR01575 0625) says Pure "will pay for the cost of your initial property valuation". |
Aviva's two documents word it differently, and the tariff is the older; Legal & General's two pages differ too, so the illustration is the place to confirm. Aviva's costs page (updated 15 September 2026) says that if there is a fee, it is in your personalised illustration. For any lender, including those not in the table, the illustration the adviser prepares is where the fees show, according to MoneyHelper. The valuation is one item among several: MoneyHelper says the fees of applying, which include advice, legal, valuation and arrangement charges, could total between £1,500 and £3,000; the fees guide goes through the full list.
If the figure comes in lower than you expected
L&G's guide counts the gap between expected and assessed value among the things that can slow an application. Aviva's process page says the result helps it decide whether to make an offer, how much to lend and whether conditions such as clearing a mortgage or making repairs apply. Urgent repairs the valuation turns up may have to be done before an offer, or become a condition of the loan.
That makes a lower figure a question of how much and on what terms, not only yes or no. The Aviva tariff prices a second visit: £60 "if we need to get the valuer to inspect your home again". If a figure looks wrong, ask the adviser whether the lender would look at it again and on what basis, before you pay for anything further.
Does a lower figure threaten your plans? No charge applies to the form on this page, whose callback comes from a qualified equity release adviser ready to talk it through.
How the valuation sets the most you can borrow
A lifetime mortgage is limited to a share of the home's value, the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio. Aviva's guide to its plans says the amount you can borrow can depend on "factors such as the current value, location and type of property, your age, health and lifestyle". Pure Retirement's Classic at a Glance (PR01557, dated August 2026, a document written for advisers) says each customer's quote is personalised, and prints the absolute maximum LTV for its lump sum plan by age. In that table the ceiling rises with age:
| Age | Classic Lump Sum, joint life | Classic Lump Sum, single life |
|---|---|---|
| 55 | 20.00% | 21.00% |
| 70 | 35.00% | 36.00% |
| 80 | 45.00% | 46.00% |
| 84 | 45.00% | 46.00% |
These are ceilings for one product, not what any applicant will be offered. As an illustration only, using two invented valuations and our own arithmetic on the single-life ceiling at 70 (36.00%): a home valued at £300,000 gives a ceiling of £108,000, and one valued at £270,000 gives £97,200, which is £10,800 less. Your own lender's limits appear in your illustration; how much equity release you can get covers the limits more widely.
Leasehold homes can count for less than the full figure. Aviva says the remaining lease length determines the percentage of the valuation it lends against, and Pure's Classic lending criteria (PR02716 0925) use only 85% of the property value for leasehold flats. Equity release on leasehold and the flats page have the detail.
The valuation at the end: the sale and the guarantee
Aviva says the loan is usually repaid with money from selling the home when the last borrower dies or moves into long-term care. Then it is the sale price, not the figure at application, that counts. The Equity Release Council requires every product its members sell to include a no-negative-equity guarantee, which applies on two conditions: the home fetches the best price that can reasonably be obtained, and the loan's terms have been kept. If both hold, what the borrower or estate owes is limited to the home's value, less reasonable costs of selling. Equity release and inheritance explains what is left for family, and the Council's standards covers the rest of them.
The wider trade-offs apply whatever the valuation says. Interest is added to the loan and compounds, as Aviva's costs page explains, so the debt can increase quickly; MoneyHelper's cons also include a smaller inheritance, a possible effect on means-tested benefits and early repayment charges, and the hub guide goes through each. The Council's standards say all customers need independent legal advice, and L&G's calculator page adds that you cannot take out an equity release product without financial advice. In Scotland, section 9 of the 1970 conveyancing legislation means a debt secured on a home has to be a standard security.
Questions people ask
Can I get equity release without giving personal details?
The calculators are the nearest thing, and they ask for some. Aviva's uses age, property value and address for its estimate and asks for a phone number and email, saying it may call; L&G asks you to register your details before it shows a calculation. A plan itself goes through a valuation, legal checks and full underwriting, as Aviva puts it, which needs your details.
Will my home be valued again if I move or borrow more?
It can be. Aviva's tariff says it will arrange for the property to be independently revalued on additional borrowing, with no upfront revaluation fee up to and including £5 million, and L&G says that when moving you will probably have to pay valuation and arrangement fees. See topping up a plan and moving house.
Is a lifetime mortgage valuation different from an equity release valuation?
For a lifetime mortgage the two mean the same thing, because a lifetime mortgage is a type of equity release. The other type, a home reversion plan, is on its own page.
Next step
The valuation comes after you have chosen a plan, and what it does to the loan is hard to undo once you sign. Before you sign, the valuation figure is worth reading with someone who arranges these plans for a living. Next, book that talk with the form on this page; a qualified equity release adviser rings you. A solicitor's independent legal advice is a separate step before completion.
Sources (read 20 October 2026 unless dated): Aviva, process, costs, calculator, Tariff of Charges, Lending criteria, Our guide to equity release; Legal & General, overview, costs, how long it takes, selling or moving, calculator, Suitability Criteria; Just, Lending Criteria Guide; Pure Retirement, Classic at a Glance, Classic Lending Criteria, Heritage guide; Equity Release Council, Professional Standards & Guarantees; MoneyHelper, What is equity release? (snapshot of 19 September 2026); Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970, section 9.