Equity loans

You must instruct an independent RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) / FRICS (Fellow of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) registered surveyor to complete a valuation report.

You can instruct your own or we have a panel of independent surveyors (PDF) who can help you – our panel provides very competitive rates to L&Q residents.

If you want to use your own surveyor, they must be:

• independent and not associated with any estate agents
• unrelated to you
• not employed by any bank/building society
• registered with the recognised qualification of FRICS or RICS

We always require a copy of the full valuation report. It should be valid for three months – and until completion takes place.

The report should assume that the property has been maintained to a good standard.

It must include at least three comparable properties used to determine the value.

It must also state that we can use the contents of the valuation report.

Any home improvements must be declared by and using our online Home Improvements application form.

You can also complete our paper Home Improvements application form (PDF) and email it to our Homeownership team.

Please note that we may ask the surveyor to justify the valuation provided.

The repayment must be completed within three months of the valuation date. If an extension is required, you’ll be responsible for any related costs (updates are usually only valid for a further three-month period).

You should also be aware that if the value of your home changes when a new valuation is required, we’ll need to recalculate your repayment sum, regardless of whether the value has increased or decreased.

When you’re ready, email our Homeownership team your valuation report (and Home Improvement form – if applicable).

We’ll also need your contact details and full address.

If you have a copy of your original loan documentation, you’ll need to send this to us too.

If you are a MyChoiceHomeBuy customer, you’ll need to confirm if you wish to redeem all or just part of your loan.

After we receive your valuation report, we’ll calculate the redemption sum you’ll need to pay us. We’ll then contact you to pay the administration fee for this service.

View our full list of administration fees (PDF).

Once we receive your admin fee payment, we’ll email you a confirmation letter detailing the redemption sum and a response form.

You’ll need to complete the response form to confirm that you want to proceed and provide us with your solicitor's details.

You can instruct your own solicitor or we have a panel of independent conveyancing solicitors (PDF) who can help you. They are all experienced in assisting equity loan holders with this transaction.

Once we’ve received your response form and solicitor’s details, we’ll contact your solicitor with the redemption amount to be paid – and our bank details so that, on completion, they can transfer the equity loan monies to us.

We’ll also liaise with your solicitor about any other relevant documents or ongoing interest payments (for MyChoiceHomeBuy customers redeeming only part of the loan).