Remortgaging to release equity on family member's property

[RaymanLam]

Hi all, 

My sister current has a property with a decent amount of equity in it and is considering passing some of that equity over to me to start my Property portfolio. Is the equity taken out locked for the original mortgage/home owner or can it be passed as cash to someone else, i.e myself? 

If its the former, I assume the only way for me to access that equity and start my Property portfolio would be to apply for a joint mortgage with my sister. 

Any help would be much appreciated! 

[Stuart Phillips]

Your sister can remortgage for herself, and pass the released funds to you as a gift. However there are some complications:

Her mortgage company might not be happy with the reason for the remortgage. Lending usually requires a reason they are happy with, and something they can hold on file for compliance purposes. Releasing cash into your account for smoething to be decided later usually isnt acceptable. How they would feel about funding an investment for her brother will vary by lender and would be the first thing i would enquire about.

You could mitigate this by adding your sister to the portfolio, possibly removing her later on, although you both need to seek some tax advice on this.

By and large though its fesable, its just down to how its presented, and how the lender feels about it.