Equity Release due soon. What are my options?
Hello. My parents bought their house back in 1992. They didn’t finish paying off the mortgage and after my dad died, my mum took out equity release a few years ago, for about £140, 000, but never paid any of it off, so with interest, I think it’s somewhere around £160, 000.
She passed away last year and the full equity is due soon. She left the property to me and my brother and we’re looking for ways to try and keep the house. But, we have some problems.
I’ve been working with a broker to try and take out a mortgage, but every lender we find keeps pulling out, especially as it turns out my brother actually has really bad credit. Technically our mum left me the house and my brother the garden, so I can’t claim a mortgage just in my name, even though my brother said he’s happy to give up his claim to the garden.
The broker has suggested a short term finance, but hasn’t got back to me with any details yet, so I don’t know how much it would cost.
I know one option is to simply sell the house to pay off the equity, but it’s in a state of some disrepair, so I don’t think it’ll go for much (the house next door, which is identical, sold for £400, 000, but that place was immaculate). Plus we have a lot of sentimental attachment to the place.
Are there any options that could be allow us to keep the house? Renewing/extending the equity? The short term finance? Officially signing ownership of the garden over to me?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
EDIT: Since people are asking, my mum had a friend who is a notary. He helped draft the will and it was his idea that my mum leave the garden to my brother (no one else in the family understands why he had this idea). She also named him the executor. To be honest, I have a hard time understanding most of the things he says. But I’m can’t tell if that’s because he’s bad at his job, or because I’ve never been great at following “legal-speak”.