Annuity and life annuity contract used as a home reversion

Abstract

Equity release services are becoming increasingly popular nowadays. They are a remedy for the financial problems of seniors who do not have enough money to support themselves and cannot count on family support. In practice, these services are provided under a sales model and the entrepreneurs offering them (mortgage funds) treat their business activities commercially as a way to increase their profits. The credit model, despite its regulation, does not work in practice. At the same time, the basis for the economic activity of these funds are the regulations governing annuity (Pl: renta) and life annuity (Pl: dożywocie) contracts – legal institutions with a maintenance function, whose aim is to help with maintenance. The importance of this function means that the debtor, as a party to annuity contracts, should not focus on making a profit, but on the material or personal support of the recipient. A discrepancy has therefore arisen between the maintenance function of annuity and life annuity and the commercial nature of the business of home reversion service providers, which distorts the essence of the former. Therefore, the legitimacy of invoking Articles 903-916 of the Civil Code to home reversion services should be questioned and the aim of this paper is to examine such legitimacy. The analysis leads to the conclusion that annuity and life annuity contracts, due to their maintenance function, are not an appropriate legal basis for a reverse mortgage. The discussion is based on the theoretical method, in particular on a causal and critical analysis.

Keywords

• reverse mortgage
• home reversion
• contractual annuity
• life annuity
• maintenance function