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Money Box: Why is Joan trapped in her home?

Why is Joan trapped in her home?

22/04/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, Why is Joan trapped in her home?

Why can't property owners whose homes have risen sharply in value afford to downsize?

What might the snap election mean for pensions, shared appreciation mortgages, how rich is rich and a hike in probate fees is halted.

Joan was among thousands of people who took out shared appreciation mortgages in the late 1990s. Older borrowers used them to release cash worth up to 25 percent of the value of their homes. On the sale of the home the bank would get the loan amount back plus 75 percent of any increase in property value. Years later Joan is in her eighties with mobility problems and her home has risen sharply in value. She tells Money Box she can't sell up to downsize because the amount owed to her banks won't leave enough to buy a suitable property in her area. 

The Prime Minister's call for a snap general election raises questions about the future course of pension policy. Tom McPhail, Head of Policy at Hargreaves Lansdown and Steve Webb, former pensions minister now Royal London's Director of Policy, discuss what it might mean for pensions tax relief, the triple lock and the state pension age.

This week shadow chancellor John McDonnell defined rich people as those earning above £70,000 to £80,000 a year, during an interview where he suggested that they could be asked to pay more tax under a Labour government. Professor Donald Hirsch, Director of the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, shares insights on people with that level of income, including where they're likely to be found. 

Plans which would have seen increases of up to 20 thousand pounds for a charge that's payable for sorting out the affairs of someone who has died have been halted. From May probate fees in England and Wales were due to rise from a flat fee of £155 or £215 to a sliding scale which would charge up to £20,000 for estates worth over 2 million pounds. The general election means there's not enough time for the legislation to go through parliament.

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