Man, 102, given 25 year mortgage

A 102-year-old man has been given a 25 year mortgage for £200,000.

The pensioner will be 127 if the loan runs to its full term - five years older than the world's longest living person who died at 122.

The man, from East Sussex, faces repayments of £958 a month on his interest-only loan.

He is using it to "get into the buy-to-let" market and intends to use the rental income to pay the mortgage.

He is the oldest person in Britain to be given a new mortgage. There are now thousands of pensioners borrowing money to buy property in the hope of beefing up their pensions.

Most lenders offer mortgages to people up to the age of 75. But some have no age limit. Jonathan Moore, of Mortgages for Business, arranged the loan for the 102-year-old.

He said: "It's a new phenomenon. Five years ago, anybody over 65 would have been hard-pushed to get any mortgage. But lenders have eased restrictions to keep in step with the market."