If your firm is conducting lifetime mortgage business only, you do not require additional permissions, provided you already hold the necessary permissions to advise on regulated mortgage contracts. This is because lifetime mortgages are considered by the FCA as regulated mortgage contracts, and therefore fall under the standard mortgage permissions.
However, if your firm wishes to advise on both lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans, you will need to hold additional permissions to cover both areas. Specifically, you will require the permission to advise on a home reversion plan alongside the existing permission to advise on or arrange regulated mortgage contracts.
It’s important to note that while the firm’s main permissions do not need to change when advising on lifetime mortgages, the individual adviser providing the advice will need to update their FCA Directory Registration to include the specific activity: 21. Advising on or arranging (bringing about) equity release transactions. This ensures that the adviser is appropriately registered to provide advice in this area.
By keeping your permissions up to date, both at the firm and adviser level, you help ensure compliance with FCA requirements while continuing to offer comprehensive advice to your clients.
