Is There a Way That I Can Sell My Home Yet Still Remain a Tenant?

Believe it or not, you can sell part of, or your entire home and stay living in the property. It’s called home reversion.

It works by allowing you to sell some or all of your property to someone else for a lump sum or money given as an income each month or a mixture of the two. The oddity about this is that even though your property is owned by someone else, you can continue to live there as long as you choose.  This could be until you choose to move or, if you are older, until you die.

There are home reversion companies who are willing to buy your property and allow you to still live there and this type of scheme may be very good for older people with little income but lots of capital tied up in their property.

You should know that you will get a much-reduced price for your property in these circumstances though. You’ll probably get somewhere between 30% and 60% of the value of your property on the open market, so for a property worth £200,000, you’ll get anywhere between £60,000 and £120,000. This figure really depends on your age and the older you are, the more you will get back because the company knows they will probably get their investment back more quickly.

The reason for the knockdown price is that you’ll get to stay there indefinitely without paying any rent and it can’t be sold even though you are just a tenant until you die or have to leave the property because you need to go into care.

Home revision is a serious and potentially high-risk financial transaction. There can be serious tax implications for you and the lump sum payment or regular income could impact your benefits. Not only that but your inheritance and long-term financial situation will be altered drastically.

You’ll need to do lots of research and also get independent legal and financial advice. This should cover the impact of the financial aspects of the transaction on your future, but you should also cover the legalities and details of the lease agreement with the home reversion company.

Even though you don’t own your home anymore, you will still have to maintain it so you’ll need to keep some money to cover these costs. In addition, if there is ground rent to pay, this will also be your responsibility.

To complete a home reversion, there will be costs involved to set this up. Legal fees for the sales, and lease review, valuation fees for the property and arrangements fees so be sure you factor this in when you are deciding whether to go ahead with this or not.

You can see that this sounds like a great idea, but you should also make sure that you get the right advice about the impact of home reversion before you consider it.

Contact our conveyancing solicitor, Samantha Travella today to discuss your particular circumstances. You can reach Samantha by calling 01264 325830, email: stravella@bsandi.co.uk or contacting us via our no-obligation, online enquiry form.