Dear Sally

MY 78-YEAR-OLD mother recently suffered a stroke and now needs longterm care, which my elderly father isn’t well enough to provide.

Before, she was caring for him in their two-storey house but now she can’t walk unaided so they need to move to a bungalow nearer to me so I can help.

But they might not be able to. About 25 years ago, when hard up, my parents took out an Aviva lifetime mortgage. They borrowed £60,000 and now owe £250,000. The interest rate is about 10 pc but the worst is they have to pay an early repayment charge of £50,000 if they sell up. This is soul destroying.

Aviva says the fee won’t be waived unless one of them dies or both need long-term care. But the definition of needing care is incredibly specific — they only qualify if they can’t go to the toilet unaided. Newer contracts allow the penalty to be waived if just one person goes into long-term care.

This ridiculous charge is blocking their ability to move. Please help.

A.G., Henley-on-Thames. PeoPle aged 55 or over who, like your parents, are cash poor but rich in bricks and mortar often opt for a lifetime mortgage — also known as an equity release loan. This allows homeowners to draw cash from the value of their property without having to repay the loan (or any interest) until they die, move into longterm care or when they move house without taking the loan with them.

Your parents could have transferred their loan to a new property (‘mortgage porting’) if the lender approved of the new home. But they wanted to remortgage instead, which doesn’t surprise me considering the 10 pc interest rate on their deal. I was shocked at how the original loan had ballooned.

equity release loans are more mainstream now and the average interest rate is 8.29 pc, according to analysts Defaqto. The nub of your complaint, though, was the £50,000 early repayment charge, rather than the rate.

exit penalty rules have improved. aviva’s newer plans do not impose an early redemption charge so long as people have held the mortgage for at least three years. and the charge is also waived if one of the borrowers requires long-term care after the three-year period.

Sadly, this isn’t the case with your parents’ 25-year- old plan. Both must require long-term care to avoid the penalty charge.

I asked aviva if it would waive the fee because if your parents had to pay the £50,000, their funds would fall £20,000 short of what they need for the one-storey home they had set their hearts on. When