Home for life plan (A 9+ review)
By
HuutiMoney
In this brief blog, we are going to discuss the home for life plan and how it could potentially help you release equity from your home.
What is the home for life plan?
The home for life plan is a form of lifetime lease offered by the Homewise company. You pay a one-off fee to live in a property of your choice with no rent, repayments or interest for the rest of your lifetime. It would be your home and you’d be registered as the lifetime owner at Land Registry.
With the home for life plan you also have an option to safeguard up to 50% of the property’s future value to pass down as your inheritance.
With a home for life plan, you get to choose a home which you want to buy at market value.
With the home for life plan, you will essentially pay a discount which can be up to 40% of the properties value. You will then be able to live in the property rent-free until you die or move into long term care.
The amount of discount you will get with the home for life plan is based on your age, income, gender, marital status, property and financial circumstances.
When you die or move into long term care the property is sold and the value of any shares that were ringfenced is given to your family or estate while Homewise and its investment partners keeps its stake. How much Homewise keeps at its stake will all depend on how you set up your home for life plan.
How to apply for the home for life plan?
To apply for the home for life plan you will need to call home wise during normal working hours on 0808 115 3870
What can the home for life plan offer you?
The home for life plan can allow you to:
Move homes to a much better area
Free up money to boost your retirement savings
Live in a home more suited to you
Allow you to pay off any debts such as your mortgage, car finance etc
Pay off an interest-only mortgage
How the home for life plan protects you
The home for life plan plan has a strict code of practice which is followed. Your home and your rights are protected by law and through the code of practice which the home for life plan follows.
The home for life plan is actually registered at the land registry and all legal rights and any matter concerning safeguarding equity in the property and how this is passed down in your inheritance are defined in the declaration of trust document. The declaration of trusts documents will mention specifically what percentage of the property you have safeguarded and your rights to sell this share of your property.
Home for life plan isn’t regulated by the financial conduct authority and you won’t be able to claim any compensation under the financial services compensation scheme.
Moving homes
Most people may need help with moving homes and Homewise do their best to cater for this. They will even send their experts to accompany you on viewings wh3n you are shopping for a new house to ensure you feel confident in the homebuying process, especially if you haven’t done it in a long while.
Move simply
Homewise offers its move simply service which allows those who are looking to buy a home get expert help.
They state the following on their website:
“Getting to know you-it all starts with a simple ‘hello’
Give us a call, pop us an email or send us a letter, and we’ll get one of our dedicated home moving experts to give you a call. They’ll make sure they understand your moving goals and requirements and are perfectly placed to answer any questions you may have about moving home in your retirement
Expert knowledge to help you sell-we have years of experience in this market
Whether your property has been on the market for a while or you’re just starting the moving process, we’ll conduct a Market Appraisal to make sure you’re advertising at the right price. We’ll look at recent sold prices, market research and your goals to give you a clear understanding of how best to sell your home.
Finding your new home-viewings, viewings and more viewings
It can be difficult to make an offer on a property if you’ve not already accepted an offer on your current home. So, if you’ve not managed to sell after four weeks, we’ll put forward a Sell Simply offer (subject to company property criteria), putting you in a much stronger position as a potential buyer.
Finding your new home-viewings, viewings and more viewings
Once we know your moving goals and have a clear idea of exactly what you’re looking for, we’ll start sending you tailored recommendations and detailed property particulars. We’ll also send our guide to online house hunting, so you’re free to browse to your heart’s content anytime.
Making an offer-take advantage of our in-house experts
Once you’ve found your dream home, let us know straight away and we’ll get to work preparing an offer. We’ll research your new property, the area and the market and come back to you with a competitive price. And, with your go ahead, we’ll place the offer and handle all negotiations for you!
Buying your home-we’ll help demystify the buying process
The legal process can often be a bit complicated and confusing, especially if you’re not familiar with the terminology, so let our Sales Progression experts lead you through this process. We deal with solicitors and home purchases day in and day out, so take advantage of our expertise.
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What is a home for life plan lifetime lease?
A Home for Life Plan lifetime lease is a lifetime lease which means you lease the property for your whole lifetime. You pay a one-off discounted price to live in a property of your choice, without any rent or repayments, for your lifetime.
How does Homewise lifetime lease plan work?
The Homewise lifetime lease plan is an agreement which allows you to purchase a new home and live in it for the rest of your life. With the Homewise lifetime lease plan you pay no rent mortgage or interest repayments.
What is a lease for life?
A lease for life is a rental agreement which allows the owner of a life lease to purchase the right to occupy a property for their whole life time. A life lease could also have a fixed term. To get a lease for life you will need to make a one-off prepayment.
How do home for life plans work?
The Home For Life Plan works by allowing you to buy a new home at a significant discount. This means you can buy a much nicer house, use the proceeds from the sale of your old home to live comfortably, buy a second home, gift to your kids as a mortgage deposit, put in your inheritance, invest,travel or even pay off debts.
Is Home for Life plan a good idea?
The home for life plan could be a good idea if it stacks up better to an equity release plan.
The pros of the home for life plan
With the home for life plan, you can safeguard up to 50% of the property to pass on as an inheritance to your family.
The home for life plan allows you to live
Mortgage-free
Interest-free
Rent-free
With the home for life plan, you are guaranteed a lifetime lease which is free. This guarantee is registered by your solicitors at the land registry.
Another pro of the home for life plan is that it guarantees that you will be able to move homes if you want to.
Another advantage of home for life’s plan is that it may allow you to avoid a stamp duty tax liability.
With the home for life plan, you can buy property anywhere in the UK.
The home for life plan may offer some security for you.
Cons of the home for life plan
It may be difficult to obtain a mortgage for a life lease home. You should speak to a mortgage broker about this.
With the home for life plan, you will not own full title of the property.
You will have to be at least a certain age before you can use the home for life plan
The home for life plan will only lend on standard construction properties.
Homewise is not regulated by the [FCA](https://www.fca.org.uk/).They are also not required to be. This isn’t a bad thing, it just means there isn’t much regulatory oversight.
How to contact Homewise
You can get more information on the home for life plan by contacting Homewise through either one of the details below:
By phone on: 0808 250 9075
By post at: 1 Liverpool Gardens
Worthing, West Sussex
BN11 1TF United Kingdom
You can also check their FAQs on their website.
In this brief guide, we discussed the home for life plan. If you have any questions or comments please let us know.
If you need financial advice and you live in the UK then you could contact the Money Advice service over the phone or via chat for impartial advice.
You can also contact the debt charity “Step Change” if you are in debt and need help.