FAQs

First-time buyers are eligible for Even, as long as:

• The property you intend to buy will be your only home and meets our criteria – see below
• You pass our affordability and credit checks
• You have a deposit of at least 5%
• You can provide a mortgage-in-principle or mortgage offer for your purchase

To be eligible for Even you need to: 

• Be a first-time buyer. Exceptions can be made if you used to own a property, but currently don't.
• Have at least 5% saved for your deposit
• Be a UK citizen, or have Indefinite Leave to Remain
• Be aged between 21 and 45
• Be buying a non-new build home in England or Wales

There are only a few restrictions on using Even. These are:

• The property must be in England or Wales and valued under £1,000,000.
• In London, it must be valued at more than £150,000, elsewhere it must be more than £100,000.
• You must be able to get a mortgage on it (properties in bad condition may not get a mortgage).
• It cannot be a very unique property in terms of construction or location. This is because unique properties cannot be accurately valued and we won’t know if you’re paying the right price for it.
• It cannot be a new build, mobile home, houseboat, holiday let or used for corporate purpose.

Even lends a lump sum to contribute to your deposit in the form of an equity loan.

When you come to sell your home, we share the increase in value based on our contribution versus yours. If we contributed 50% of your initial deposit on the home, we will take 50% of the future profit or loss (not of the whole property value) when you choose to pay us back. See the Repayments FAQs for some examples.

Even can lend you up to two times your deposit up to a maximum of £100,000, and no less than £7,500.

Using Even, you’ll essentially have two mortgages on your property. Along with your deposit, you will need a normal main mortgage, also known as a first-charge mortgage, and Even’s equity loan, known as a second-charge mortgage. Your main mortgage must:

• Include a contribution from you of at least 5% of the property value
• Have a loan-to-value ratio of 70% or above
• Be a maximum of five times your household income
• Be a repayment mortgage
• Be from a mortgage lender on our selected panel
• Be the only other mortgage that you have on the property for the term of our partnership

Finally, if at any point you remortgage your property in order to release equity from your home, you must pay us back first.

To ensure the property is in good condition and worth what you are paying for it, you need to share the following on the property you intend to buy:

• Your main mortgage offer
• Your solicitor’s legal report on the title (your solicitor will explain what this is)
• You may also need to instruct your solicitor to answer any questions we have

It’s similar, with three key differences:

• First, we don’t help with new-builds, as they can be overpriced which we think is unfair for first-time buyers.
• Second, Even is a no-interest loan. No surprise interest rates five years down the line!
  
• Third, our share of the profit is based on our contribution to the combined deposit versus yours (not our contribution to the purchase price).

Unfortunately not. Even can only be used alongside a first charge mortgage (rather than in conjunction with other schemes).

From our side, there are no restrictions but it is worth double-checking any paperwork you have to make sure there are no restrictions from your ISA provider.

Sometimes things go wrong, or your situation may change:

• Defaults (not paying your monthly charge). If you break any of the terms of our contract, or you default on your main first charge mortgage, we reserve the right to demand repayment of our loan, including our share of the change in the property value.
• Death. If you were to pass away whilst you have our loan, we will ask to be paid back from your estate.

It certainly is. We’re regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, just like your bank.

Technically, Even is a mortgage product known as an equity loan, which you will see in documents if you buy with us.

As with all mortgage products, your home is at risk if you don’t keep up repayments.

No – you retain 100% ownership of your property. You take out what is known as a second charge mortgage, which is secured against your property.

Yes, you can renovate the property, but first and foremost it must be kept in good condition

If you want to do major renovations, here’s what you need to know:

• The property must be maintained throughout ownership to at least the same standard as upon purchase. We’ll need to take some pictures that will be assessed when you repay the loan.
• If for any reason, the property is below the standard you bought it when we end our partnership, we have the right to make it right with the costs taken from the sale of the property.
  

If you want to do major renovations, here’s what you need to know:

• You must notify Even of any structural renovations you plan. (e.g. extensions, remodelling)
• All renovations must have the right planning permission and building regulations sign off.
  
• At the point of sale, you will be responsible for a RICS valuation to ascertain the change in value in the property as a result of any major structural renovation. This uplift will be deducted from the market value of the property before our share or any profit is calculated. For example, if the property increases in value by £10,000 but £5,000 of the value increase comes from the renovation you made you’d keep this £5,000 in full and we’d share the remaining £5,000.
  
• This does not apply to aesthetic renovations, including installing a new kitchen or bathroom.

We are committed to providing an excellent service but sometimes we make mistakes, and if we do, or we fail to meet your expectations in some other way, we want the opportunity to put things right as quickly as we can and take steps to prevent a recurrence. Below you’ll find information about how to submit a complaint if you are dissatisfied with us.

Making a complaint:

In order to best manage the complaint, we find that putting down your complaint or concerns in a written format is best, providing as much detail as possible. You can do this in one of two ways:

• By email: You can email complaints@joineven.com with details of your complaint
• By post: Headspace, 19-21 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8BA
  

Of course, if you prefer, you may make a complaint by phone at +44 20 3868 0279.

What to include:

In order for us to help you the best way we can, please provide:

• Your name, address, phone number and email address
• Details of what has gone wrong
  
• What you would like us to do to resolve the issue
  

What will happen next:

We aim to assess all complaints fairly, consistently and promptly and we will keep you updated on the progress of your complaint throughout the process.

We aim to write to you to acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 3 working days of receiving it, including details of our complaints handling procedure and the contact information for the staff member dealing with your complaint.

We will investigate your complaint and will get in touch with you as soon as possible with the aim of doing so within 8 weeks of receipt to issue our final response to you in writing. We may issue this final response together with the acknowledgement of receipt of your complaint if we are able to resolve your complaint quickly. If we’re unable to issue a final response within 8 weeks, we’ll write to you to let you know the reason for the delay and indicate when we expect to be able to issue a final response.

Our final response will inform you about the outcome of our investigation, what we’ve done to resolve your complaint and advise you whether you may refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are not satisfied with our response. It will also include a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service's explanatory leaflet.

Referring your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service:

We sincerely hope that we will be able to resolve any complaints internally. However, if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, or have not sent you a final response within 8 weeks of receiving your complaint, then you may be entitled to pursue the matter further with the Financial Ombudsman Service. If you do so, we will respond via the appropriate channels. Please note that if you wish to refer a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service you must do so within six months of the date of our final response.

Details for the Financial Ombudsman can be found here: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Last Updated: October 2021

When you want to sell your home, it’s very similar to any other sale but we also want to ensure you achieve the best price:

• You choose when you want to sell
• You are responsible for sale costs, like estate agent fees
• We will help you to understand the market value of your home so you get the best price and can even help advise on your negotiation
• If we feel that an offer is significantly below market value we reserve the right to get a third-party RICS report at our cost. The profit share will be split based on the higher of the sale price and the valuation. We have a dispute process in place if this happens
• You pay back the remaining loan, plus the profit share or minus the loss share
  

You can pay us back at any point. Here’s how it works if you pay back before you sell:

• You arrange a valuation by a RICS qualified surveyor from our panel at your own cost
• Assuming that we agree with the RICS valuation, the profit or loss share will be calculated based on that value
• If either party disagree with the valuation, they can get another one at their cost
• If either party still disagrees, then the valuation is decided by an independent expert valuer

Even shares the change in value of the property at the point you repay the loan

• If the value of the property goes up, we share the change in value based on the amount we contribute to your deposit. E.g. you put in £20,000 and we match it, that’s a 50/50 split in profit (or loss)
• We cap the amount we can profit which means you stand to get a bigger share of the profit if house prices rise a lot. Our share is capped at two times the loan amount for the first ten years, increasing to three times after that
• If the value of the property goes down, our share of the drop is deducted from the outstanding balance of the loan

Our share is based on our contribution versus yours. For example, if you put down £10,000 and we contribute £10,000, our share of the profit or loss is 50%

When you sell or repay the loan our share is taken from the profit or loss only (not the total value of the property)

The share is calculated:

• When you choose to sell the property
• When you choose to pay us back in full before you sell (if you release funds by remortgaging you must use them to pay us back first)
• At the end of your mortgage term (maximum 35 years)

Here are some examples:

• If the property increases in value by £5,000, our share of the gain is 50% equaling £2,500
• You pay us back the gain plus the outstanding balance of the loan. So if the outstanding balance was £5,000, you would owe us £7,500
• If the property decreases in value by £5,000, our share of the loss is 50% equaling £2,500
• This is deducted from the outstanding balance of the loan. So if you were paying us back via a sale of the property and the outstanding balance was £5,000, you would owe us £2,500
• If the property value does not change you only pay the outstanding loan amount

There are two situations where we don’t share all, or part of, the loss if your property goes down in value

• If you pay us back in the first six years without selling the property (for example, if you release money when remortgaging). After six years, we share the loss no matter how you pay us back
• If your sold property value means our share of the loss is more than your outstanding balance (i.e. the amount we initially lent less monthly repayments to that date), then we write off the entire loan but don’t cover any further loss

Absolutely, you can pay back any amount above 10% of the original amount we lent you. The outstanding balance and our share will be reduced by the proportion of the loan you pay off.

For example, if our share is 50% and the total amount you owe us is £15,000 (£10,000 outstanding loan balance plus £5,000 as our share of the gain):

• You repay us £3,000, 20% of the total amount owed
• Both the outstanding loan balance and our share will decrease by 20%
• The outstanding loan balance reduces to £8,000 and our share of any future change in value is 40%