Norwich Union's offer to sell your home carries a hefty price tag

Norwich Union's offer to sell your home carries a hefty price tag

People over the age of 55 who are feeling daunted by the prospect of selling their property as they enter retirement are being targeted by two new schemes from Norwich Union.

Under the first of the schemes, Assisted Move, the UK's largest insurer will manage the sales process from providing a solicitor and estate agent through to advising on how best to present a home to buyers. It will also provide a 'Kirstie and Phil' style service to help people in finding a new home if required.

'We know that many people approaching retirement or who are retired are worried about the moving process ,' says Norwich Union's Anthony Rafferty. 'Some people will see the value in a scheme to assist with this.' In exchange for its services, NU will take 2 per cent of the achieved sale price of the property.

For those who are after a particularly quick sale, perhaps because they have already seen the property they want to move into or have been trying unsuccessfully to sell for some time, Norwich Union has another solution: Optional Fund Release.

Under this scheme the buyer is given a valuation through residential property website movewithus.co.uk and is then given 80 per cent of that valuation up front. 'This could mean that they can buy a smaller house for retirement before their existing property is sold,' says Rafferty.

When the property is sold anything above 80 per cent of the valuation price is split 50/50 between the seller and Norwich Union. If.....continued below

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only 80 per cent or less of the valuation price is achieved then Norwich Union will suffer the loss. Like the Assisted Move scheme, the seller also has to pay a fee of 2 per cent of the sale price to Norwich Union.

As an example, if someone is given a valuation of £100,000 for their home, they will be given £80,000 by Norwich Union. If their house then sells for £90,000 they get a further £3,200 (half the rest of the sale price minus the fee) while NU takes £6,800.

The schemes are running for six months as pilots in the West Midlands starting next week. Contact Norwich Union on 0800 0927 981.

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