Market news

Changes to Canada Life product range

From Monday 3 October, Canada Life is temporarily closing its Lifestyle Select Options to new business, due to the current wider macro-economic conditions. Applications for the Lifestyle Select Options are paused immediately.

For pipeline cases:

• If you have already generated an illustration, a linked application won't be accepted
• If you have already submitted an application, Canada Life will continue to process the case
• If your client already has an Offer, Canada Life will continue to process the case. Please be aware the expiry date can't be extended beyond the date stated in their latest Offer Letter. You can find the date the Offer is valid until on the covering letter of your client’s Offer letter.

Cash reserve facility withdrawals, further advances and Porting applications remain unaffected.

Published: 4 October 2022

Sovereign changes

From Monday 3 October, Pure Retirement is temporarily reducing LTVs on the Sovereign range.

This will apply to new business, including further advances.

Please note that there will be no changes to the Sovereign Elite range at this time.

All KFIs are valid for 21 days from date of creation.

Published: 3 October 2022

L&G product withdrawals

From 29 September, Legal & General has temporarily withdrawn all its Navy, Indigo and Violet product variants from new business sale. These changes are effective immediately.

For any pipeline cases where you have already generated an Illustration on L&G portal, the following deadlines must ALL be adhered to (including DIP, the step just prior to Full Mortgage Application):

• Submit the DIP by 5pm on Thursday 06 October
• The case needs to be offered by Thursday 24 November
• Completion will need to take place within the 50 day offer validity period

L&G will continue to provide reoffers on the withdrawn products, limited to one per application, and these will be offered on prevailing rates at the time. To request a reoffer, please call L&G on 03330 048444 (Options 2, Option 1). You will not be able to do this through L&G portal.

Published: 30 September 2022

Emerald product update

Pure Retirement is withdrawing the Emerald product range for new business from Friday 30 September.

Pipeline cases will continue with the usual deadlines.

All KFIs are valid for 21 days from date of creation and applications have 42 days to be offered.

Published: 28 September 2022

Energy Saver Cashback offer enhancement

L&G have extended the Energy Saver Cashback offer to include Retirement Interest Only (RIO) Customers. They can also now receive 10% cashback on the total cost of home energy efficiency improvements, up to £1,000 on their initial advance.

L&G have added to the qualifying works list:

• Draught stripping
• Wood fuelled boilers
• Solar (photovoltaic) panels subject to these meeting our lending criteria
• They've also removed the restrictions around Double and Triple glazing on new or replacement windows and doors. Any installation of double glazing should now qualify for the scheme. In addition, all installations of energy efficient doors should now qualify for the cashback.

Tradespeople no longer need to be TrustMark registered and no longer need to meet PAS and Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) standards when making the home improvements. L&G will just need to check improvements made are supplied and fitted by a professional and approved installer.

Claiming process:

L&G have removed the need for customers to register their interest within 30 days of completion. Instead, once the work’s completed within 12 months of the loan taking place, clients will be asked to provide L&G with an invoice and works documentation to start their claim.

Published: 12 September 2022

LV= valuation update

An update on LV= valuation appointments:

SLA

• Valuation appointment turnarounds have reduced throughout the Summer following a peak of 7-8 working days.
• On average, LV= time from instruction to appointment is currently 6 working days, however once the Summer instructions are cleared shortly, this will return to LV= standard 5 day SLA.
• Currently, one third of valuations are being undertaken within 3 working days.

Geographic Split

• LV= have seen a reduction across all regions in turnaround times. The highest turnaround times currently are in Wales and the North West (8 working days).

Published: 7 September 2022

Emerald Cashback withdrawal

From 2 September, Pure Retirement is withdrawing the Emerald Cashback products. All KFIs are valid for 21 days from date of creation.

Published: 30 August 2022

L&G criteria changes

L&G is making the following underwriting criteria changes on their Lifetime and Retirement Interest Only mortgage products. From 17 August, L&G:

• consider Grade 2* in England & Wales and Grade B Listed Buildings in Scotland, in addition to Grade 2 and Grade C Listed Buildings.
• consider Studio Flats over 30m2 internal space (min property value £100,000 and max property value £1,000,000.)
• consider flats in blocks over 10 storeys as long as the flat is on the 10th floor or below.
• consider lending requests for properties originally built with a 100% flat roof. Where properties have been extended with a flat roof, it cannot be more than 50% of the total roof area.
• review lending requests for properties with more than 10 acres. This may suit clients who enjoy a rural lifestyle and keep livestock for non-commercial purposes

As a reminder, L&G also consider the following:

• Properties with an annexe if it’s part of the legal title with shared services to the main building. This also includes properties where the annexe may have a different council tax band to the main property.
• Cohabiting partners (Lifetime Mortgages only): for clients who are living together, not married and don’t jointly own the property.

Published: 22 August 2022

Heritage Criteria Changes

From Monday 1 August, Pure Retirement is making some changes to the Heritage Criteria.

Heritage Super Max:

• Ex-Public Sector Maisonettes – Pure will consider ex-public sector maisonettes subject to a min property value of £100,000 and a max of 2 storeys. The loan will be restricted to 85% of the max LTV – not acceptable on Heritage Super Max Plus
• Shared Septic Tanks (4 properties) – Pure will consider properties with shared septic tanks provided it is shared between no more than 4 properties and there is a satisfactory formal agreement in place
• Properties with 5+ Acres – Pure will consider properties with more than 5 acres (the property value will be based on 5 acres)
• Properties with Minimal Commercial Use – Pure will consider properties with minimal commercial use (such as childminder, music teacher etc). Subject to appropriate building and public liability insurance being in place – not acceptable on Heritage Super Max Plus

Pure will also consider the following on the Heritage Super Max Plus product, which will require funder referral on application:

• Properties with estate rent charges
• Properties with more than 4 bedrooms
• Properties with greater than 30% flat roof

Published: 1 August 2022

Heritage Supreme Max Plus Withdrawal

From Monday 25 July, Pure Retirement is withdrawing the Heritage Supreme Max Plus LTV tier prduct from new business.

KFIs deadline: 24 July. Applications deadline: 7 August

Published: 21 July 2022

Heritage Supreme Max Plus Cashback changes

From Monday 18 July, Pure Retirement is making changes to the Heritage Supreme Max Plus

• Reducing the available cashback amount from 5% to 3%
• Reducing the rate of the cashback product to 7.35% MER. The non-cashback rate will remain unchanged at 6.88% MER

Deadlines:

• Request KFIs by 23:59 on 17 July
• Submit new business applications by 23:59 on 31 July

Published: 15 July 2022

Lease length changes

From Monday 18 July, Aviva is introducing greater lending flexibility for customers with longer lease lengths by applying the following changes:

• Removing the 85% Loan To Value (LTV) cap on all flats and maisonettes. This will be replaced with a tiered approach of property value adjustments for all leasehold properties influenced by the remaining lease length and the youngest borrower’s age. This means that customers with longer remaining leases will benefit from higher LTVs.
• Introducing a minimum lease length of 75 years. Lease lengths with a remaining term of less than 75 years will be declined regardless of the youngest borrower’s age.

These changes will apply to initial borrowing and additional borrowing, as well as for customers applying to port their mortgage.

Published: 15 July 2022

Product changes

From Friday 8 July, Just is removing the 7% cashback option on the J6 product. All new quotes from this date will be provided on the new terms.

For any pipeline quotes, Just will need to receive applications before close of business on Friday 22 July. Any applications received after this date will be on the new interest rates.

Published: 7 July 2022

Temporary removal of Super LTV from New Business

Effectively from 7 July, OneFamily is temporarily removing the Super LTV from New Business. The last date that OneFamily will accept Super LTV applications will be 6 July 2022.

Published: 6 July 2022

Capital Choice Ultra Lite withdrawal

On Friday 1 July, More2life have withdrawn the Capital Choice Ultra Lite Lump Sum product with immediate effect, the Ultra Lite Drawdown plan will remain available for new business.

Published: 1 July 2022

LV= changes to the application process

From Monday 4 July, LV= will be making some improvements to simplify the application process and reduce the number of underwriting referrals, enabling a smoother application journey for you and your clients.

In summary LV= will:

• Add a warning message to allow you to double check you’ve used the correct submission route for your portal application
• Add a date and time stamp to your illustration summary (on your homepage)
• Make some changes to the reason for loan options to help reduce application referrals
• Add a warning message regarding property condition to ensure it has been answered correctly, to minimise application referrals and declines
• Make the proceed buttons more clear so that you are aware of the status of your clients’ application and what action is required by you

Terms and Conditions

LV= have also updated the terms and conditions for the Lifetime Mortgage Drawdown+ and Lump Sum+ products.

Published: 1 July 2022

Pure Retirement Heritage Supreme Max Plus

From Monday 20 June, Pure Retirement is launching Heritage Supreme Max Plus, a new high LTV tier product :

• For a customer aged 70 a max LTV is available of 47.20%
• A fees package option is available offering 5% cashback
• Customer age: min 60, max 85 (80 if 5% cashback product)
• Not available on Freedom 20 or Freedom 40
• Criteria Restrictions are the same already in place for Heritage Super Max Plus.

Published: 17 June 2022

Pure Retirement LTV withdrawal

From Monday 20 June, Pure Retirement is removing the Max and Max Plus LTV tiers from all Heritage ranges (Core range, Freedom 20/Freedom 40).

Published: 16 June 2022

Emerald LTV change

From Wednesday 8 June, Pure Retirement is making some changes to the Emerald cashback product, reducing the maximum LTV.

All KFIs are valid for 21 days from date of creation.

Published: 1 June 2022

Changes to Just for you lifetime mortgage

On Wednesday 1 June, Just will be removing all cashback options across J1, J2 & J2.5 products.

Published: 30 May 2022

Pure Sovereign Max Changes

Pure is making the following criteria changes to the Sovereign range with effect from Monday 30 May 2022:

• Increasing the maximum loan size for standard Sovereign range products from £725,000 to £1 million
• Increasing the minimum loan size for Sovereign Elite range products from £725,001 to £1,000,001
• Increasing the maximum loan size for Sovereign Elite range products to £2 million (can refer if over £2m) – current criteria is refer between £1m - £2m

The above changes will apply to all initial and further advance lending.

Published: 30 May 2022

LV= product changes

From 20 May, LV= is making changes to its Lifetime Mortgage Lending Criteria:

• Will increase its maximum flat roof percentage from 50% to 100%, where a durable material (asphalt, metal sheet, EPDM, GRP etc.) is in place and the roof is in good condition. The maximum percentage where the flat roof is constructed from felt has increased from 30% to 50%. Ex-local authority properties are subject to a 50% maximum flat roof, regardless of the construction material used.

• Non-residential properties may be permitted where adjacent or in close proximity to the subject property and subject to a satisfactory valuation.

  For properties in close proximity to commercial premises, LV= will consider these subject to surveyor comments. Properties adjacent to or above commercial premises or in close proximity to a large-scale industrial site are not accepted.

  Answer the question on LV= portal asking whether the subject property is within 50m of commercial premises and provide any relevant additional details in the notes section on the decision page. This will then be reviewed before the valuation is instructed.

Published: 16 May 2022

L&G product changes

On Friday 6 May at 9am, L&G is reducing the minimum OPR payment from £500 to £50.

Published: 6 May 2022

New plan options on Horizon

From Wednesday 27 April, Standard Life is adding two new plan options 780 and 800 to the Horizon Plan.

Published: 27 April 2022

LV= lending policy changes

With effect from Wednesday 6 April, LV= is making the following changes to its Lifetime Mortgage Lending Criteria:

• Will look at properties with up to 15 acres by exception.
• Will be able to consider annexes where family reside in the annexe on a full-time basis.
• Could accept aso customers with less than 36 month UK residency history
• Will no longer accept flats/apartments in a building with more than 4 storeys and no lift.

Published: 30 March 2022

L&G Premier product change

On Wednesday 30 March at 6pm L&G is reducing the minimum property value for Premier products from £1m to £750,000.

This change will be across Premier Flexible and OPLM variants and Premier Black and Yellow LTV tiers.

Published: 30 March 2022

Scottish Widows product updates

On Monday 28 March, Scottish Widows is making the following changes to its Lifetime Mortgage product range:

• New high loan to value (LTV) products for Lump Sum
• New product for Future Release
• Changes to max LTV by age and product
• Rate increase across all products

Published: 22 March 2022

Canada Life product update

From Thursday 24 March, Canada Life is simplifying its product range, removing the following product options:

• Over 55 Buy-to-Let Lifestyle Option
• Second Home Lifestyle Options

The 55 Buy-to-Let Voluntary Select Option and Second Home Voluntary Select Option will continue to be available to customers.

For any pipeline cases

• Generate an illustration before 8am Thursday 24 March.
• Submit the application before 5pm on Thursday 7 April.

Published: 22 March 2022

Heritage criteria changes

From Monday 21 March, Pure Retirement is expanding the criteria on the Heritage range, accepting:

• 100% flat roof properties (doesn’t apply to the Heritage Super Max Plus plans)
• properties with shared septic tanks

Pure Retirement is also applying an additional restriction to the Heritage Super Max Plus plans, not accepting properties in significant risk of flooding areas with active flood mitigation management in place and insurance in place to cover the flood risk.

Published: 21 March 2022

Withdrawal of more2life Capital Cashback Plans

From Thursday 17 March, more2life is withdrawing for all new business Capital Choice Cashback plans:

• Capital Choice With Cashback
• Capital Choice Plus With Cashback

Applications on the current rates can be submitted up until Thursday 31 March 23:59.

Published: 18 March 2022

more2life Flexi Choice criteria changes

From Monday 14 March, more2life is making some changes to the Flexi Choice criteria to now include:

• Up to 100% flat roof
• Up to 3 satisfied or unsatisfied CCJ’s

And more relaxed criteria regarding:

• Proximity to commercial
• Septic tanks
• Unadopted roads
• Ex-local authority/council houses & bungalows
• Laing Easyform & Cross wall construction

Plus, the following builder’s warranties are no longer accepted:

• Zurich Municipal New Build Guarantee
• Principal
• A Foundation 15 Certificate

Published: 14 March 2022

Pure Retirement Classic Criteria changes

From Tuesday 15 March, Pure Retirement is making some changes to the Classic criteria to now include:

• Up to 100% flat roof
• Up to 3 satisfied or unsatisfied CCJ’s

And more relaxed criteria regarding:

• Max number of storeys for flats
• Unadopted roads
• Laing Easyform construction
• Cross wall construction
• Septic tanks

Published: 14 March 2022

Heritage product update

From Wednesday 2 March, Pure Retirement is making some changes to the Heritage range:

• Introducing a new LTV tier product – Heritage Super Max Plus
• Introducing new fees package (cashback) product options for Heritage Max Plus and Super Max tiers
• Making some LTV adjustments at selected ages for Heritage Max, Max plus, Super Max
• Withdrawing the Heritage Plus LTV tier
• Increasing interest rates on all Heritage products

Published: 1 March 2022

Heritage Renovate withdrawal

With effect from Tuesday 1 February 2022 the Heritage Renovate range will be withdrawn from new business.

Any pipeline cases currently at application stage will continue to be honoured.

Submission Dates:

• You can request Renovate KFIs until 23:59 Monday 31 January 2022
• Submit Renovate applications by 23:59 Monday 14 February 2022

Published: 27 January 2022

Aviva variable ERC change

From 24 January, Aviva is launching a new Variable Gilt Index Early Repayment Charge (ERC), which replaces the current Individual Gilt ERC for all new business customers who choose this option, rather than a Fixed Percentage ERC.

Aviva has updated its gilt ERC so that all new borrowing uses the FTSE 15 year Actuarial Gilt Index as a single reference point.

For further information and FAQs on Variable Gilt Index ERC please visit Aviva webpage.

Published: 24 January 2022

Heritage Criteria change

From 21 January Pure Retirement has implemented the following changes to the Heritage range:

• Properties with private drainage where the septic tank is shared by no more than 2 properties, and a formal agreement is in place for maintenance and access can be considered.
  • All cases will be referred to funder for individual consideration.
  • The tank can be outside of the curtilage of the subject property, but formal agreements need to be in place for maintenance and access.
• Charging orders can now be considered in line with the CCJ criteria, up to a value of £20,000.
  • Orders between £10,000 - £20,000 will require funder approval.
  • The charge must be repaid on completion.

Published: 21 January 2022

Criteria changes

From Monday 17 January, Just is making some changes to its lending criteria:

• Limiting the LTV on flats and maisonettes to 85% of the product LTV
• Blocks of flats with 100% flat roof standard construction are acceptable
• Properties with private drainage where the septic tank is shared by no more than 2 properties and a formal agreements is in place for maintenance and access can be referred for individual consideration
• Northern Ireland listed properties can be referred for individual consideration for B1 & B2 categories. Categories A & B+ cannot be considered.
• Charging orders can be considered in line with our CCJ criteria
• Properties with restricted ownership covenants cannot be considered

For pipeline quotes impacted by the above, applications will be accepted up to Monday 31 January.

All applications are subject to approval and all properties are subject to a satisfactory valuation report.

The updated version of Just Lending Criteria Guide is available on justadviser.com.

Published: 17 January 2022

m2l launched Maxi Choice Extra

From Friday 7 January, more2life will be offering a new Maxi Choice plan – Maximum Choice Extra.

This plan will offer both Lump Sum and Drawdown options and will offer the standard Maximum Choice Features. It will have the same criteria as the Maximum Choice Super range but flas will not be accepted. Rates from 3.93%MER.

Published: 7 January 2022