Moving house with equity release: can you port a lifetime mortgage?

Moving house with equity release is often possible: many lifetime mortgages can be ported if the new home meets the lender's criteria, but wording differs.

A lifetime mortgage is secured on the home you live in, so selling that home forces a decision about the loan, and the lender has to agree to it. Want your offer document read alongside a planned move? A free phone chat with a qualified equity release adviser starts from the one-minute form on this page.

What applied when you took the plan still applies after a move. On a roll-up lifetime mortgage the interest compounds, so the debt grows; your family inherits less (equity release and inheritance); the money can reduce means-tested benefits (equity release and benefits); and an early repayment charge can apply if the loan is repaid early (repaying equity release early). The Council's standards are followed by its members and are not law binding every firm, and independent legal advice is part of taking out equity release, according to the Council. How equity release works has the full picture.

What happens to the loan when you sell

Legal & General's guide to selling a home with equity release (dated 24 March 2026) sets out two routes. One is to repay the current loan, with interest and probably an early repayment charge, and take out a new one on the new home, probably at a different rate. The other is to move the existing loan, usually called porting; it is the same loan, so the rate stays the same.

A loan that is not ported has to be paid off, because equity release can only be taken on a home you live in. Either way "your provider has to agree to the move", and the guide warns against buying somewhere new before next steps are agreed with the lender, since the new home has to meet its lending criteria. Borrowing against the next home to help buy it is covered in equity release to buy another property.

The Council's standard on moving home

The Equity Release Council's Standards (a PDF, file created 25 February 2026) say lifetime mortgage customers "must be allowed the opportunity to move to a suitable alternative property and transfer their lifetime mortgage (subject to lending criteria at the time of move) as long as they abide by the terms and conditions of their contract". This is a product standard for Council members; see the Council's standards. It is an opportunity, subject to criteria, not a guarantee that any particular home will qualify.

Rule 3.7.2 adds three points about how a move should work:

• the loan on the new property should be no less than a new customer in similar circumstances would be offered, subject to underwriting;
• if the new home is too low in value to secure the debt, the part-repayment asked for should be no more than the gap between what is owed and what the provider would lend a new customer in comparable circumstances;
• that part-repayment "should not incur any early repayment charges", though the provider may charge reasonable costs for transferring the mortgage to the new property.

The wording is "should", and the lender's own terms decide what you are offered. A product that does not meet the Standards must say so in its documents.

Four lenders, four wordings

These are four lenders' own published statements, not the whole market. Web pages without a date or print code were read on 20 October 2026.

Aviva, Just and Pure tie the test to the criteria in force when you move, not when you borrowed, so a home that would have qualified then may not now. If the next home is a flat, equity release on a flat covers what lenders look at, and how a lender values your home explains the valuation. The lenders' plans are described in how Aviva equity release works, Pure Retirement's plans and Legal & General's lifetime mortgages.

Moving somewhere cheaper, and what a move costs

All three lenders that address it warn that a lower-value home may mean paying some of the loan back. In Aviva's words, "If your new home is worth less than the current one you may need to pay back some of the loan and interest"; Legal & General and Just say much the same, Just tying it to a lower purchase price or valuation. Whether an early repayment charge applies to that part-repayment is set by the lender's terms; the Council's rule for members says it should not.

Porting is not free either. Aviva's tariff lists an application fee of £395, paid upfront when you confirm you are ready to proceed, plus an independent valuation of the new property. L&G expects you will "probably have to pay valuation and arrangement fees", while Just asks for a new application, charges for valuing the new home and may charge for legal work; it also asks to hear about a move as soon as possible so it can confirm whether the loan can be transferred. Equity release fees and why you need a solicitor for equity release cover the wider costs.

Would a part-repayment or these fees upset your sums? A qualified equity release adviser can check your offer document against a planned move on a free phone call; mention your moving dates on the form on this page.

When the new home fails the lender's criteria

If the loan cannot go with you, it has to be cleared. Aviva's FAQ says that without downsizing protection "you will need to repay your loan, which might include an early repayment charge". Just says it may ask for the whole loan back, with an early repayment charge possibly payable, and that a loan you choose not to transfer "must be repaid in full when the sale has completed".

On the plans that include it, downsizing protection can remove that charge, on each lender's own conditions. Aviva's applies, subject to its terms, on lifetime mortgages applied for on or after 8 April 2019 (its FAQ) and once "You must have had your lifetime mortgage for three years or more" (guide PF011273, November 2025); its booklet PF011601 (November 2024), for plans applied for after 21 October 2021, lists a move to a property outside its current criteria by someone eligible for the protection among the cases with no early repayment charge. Pure's Classic sheet allows full repayment without a charge if the first advance "has completed over 5 years ago" and the new home fails its criteria at the time, while its Heritage sheet says those plans have no downsizing exemption. Whether a Just or Legal & General plan carries a similar feature depends on the plan, so ask the lender what yours says, or request a call-back so an equity release adviser can explain your plan's position at no charge; repaying equity release early sets out other lenders' periods and exemptions.

Before making an offer, it is worth asking your lender whether the property meets its criteria, what a lower value would mean for the loan, and what any early repayment charge would be.

In Scotland a debt secured on land is secured by a standard security, under section 9(3) of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970; a Scottish solicitor and the lender can say how a move is documented.

Questions people ask about moving with equity release

Can you move house after taking equity release?

Often, with the lender's agreement: a lifetime mortgage may be ported if the new home meets the lender's criteria, or repaid and replaced. Alternatives to equity release compares downsizing and other routes.

Does downsizing protection let me sell and move without a penalty?

Only on plans that include it, and only on that plan's conditions: on the Aviva and Pure plans above it covers a new home the lender will not accept, after a set period (three years on Aviva's guide, over five on Pure's Classic sheet). Your offer document says whether you have it.

What happens to a home reversion plan when you move?

There is no loan to port, because you have sold all or part of the home to the provider, in MoneyHelper's words (snapshot of 19 September 2026) "usually below market value". The Council's standard for members, one of only two that apply to reversions, is a new plan on a suitable alternative property on terms no less favourable than a new customer would get, with reasonable costs chargeable. L&G adds that some or all of the equity built up since stays out of reach, because part of the home's value was sold. What a home reversion plan is and home reversion against a lifetime mortgage explain the basics.

Can I move my lifetime mortgage to a different lender when I move?

Repaying one lender and starting a new loan elsewhere differs from porting and has its own costs; transferring a lifetime mortgage to another lender covers it.

Next step

Whether your plan can move with you rests on your offer document and the lender's criteria at the time. Your details, keyed into the form on this page, mean a qualified adviser in equity release will phone you, at no cost to you.

Sources: Equity Release Council, The Standards and Professional Standards & Guarantees; Aviva, FAQs, guide PF011273, Tariff of Charges PF01459 and PF011601; Legal & General, Can I sell my house if I have equity release?, lifetime mortgages and Interest Roll Up; Just, customer FAQs; Pure Retirement, Classic at a Glance and Heritage at a Glance; MoneyHelper, What is equity release?; Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970, s 9. Accessed 20 October 2026.