It depends on whether your partner is a borrower and what the loan agreement provides. A partner or other resident who is not a borrower may not have an automatic right to stay once the loan becomes repayable. Obtain legal advice before borrowing.
Question
Can my partner stay in the home if I die or move out?
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Short answer
The detail
It depends on whether your partner is a borrower and what the loan agreement provides. A partner or other resident who is not a borrower may not have an automatic right to stay once the loan becomes repayable. Obtain legal advice before borrowing.
A lender cannot simply take ownership because you have obtained a reverse mortgage.
You remain entitled to occupy the property while the loan continues, subject to the contract. You must usually:
- continue using the property as your principal residence
- keep it appropriately insured
- pay council rates and relevant property charges
- maintain the home
- comply with the other conditions of the mortgage.
A serious breach may allow the lender to take enforcement action. That is why the contract matters. Ask the lender or broker to explain every circumstance in which the loan can become repayable.
ASIC’s review found only one forced sale among the lenders and period it examined, and that case followed a failure to repay within the required period after the borrower’s death. That historical finding does not guarantee how another lender or future case will be handled, but it provides more context than the claim that lenders routinely seize reverse-mortgaged homes.
Read more: Are Reverse Mortgages a Scam? We ask Reddit users.
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Related questions
Sources
Useful tool: try our projection calculator with your own example figures.
Verified by the Reverse Loans editorial team.
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