It claimed that regulation of the home reversion sector, which takes effect on 6 April, will put it on a par with the already regulated lifetime mortgage in the minds of advisers.
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This, Home & Capital believed, would help to improve sales of home reversions immensely.
Nigel Hare-Scott, sales director of Home & Capital, said: “We lobbied for regulation of home reversions because it created a level playing field in the equity release market. We did it not because there had been any instances of malpractice or consumer detriment that needed to be eradicated, as complaints are consistently very low, but this level playing field will help ensure people are genuinely given independent advice with all the options fully explained.”
As well as increasing home reversion sales by tenfold in the next decade, Home & Capital also believed it could help kick-start a wider growth in the equity release market.
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The comments were echoed by Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP), which believed many brokers who had previously focused only on lifetime mortgages would now look to providing home reversions.
Jon King, chief executive of SHIP, said: “6 April represents a welcome result to SHIP’s long campaign for the regulation of home reversions. Since 2004, SHIP has pressed for a level equity release arena. We also hope more IFAs will be encouraged to offer both lifetime and home reversion advice.”
