Or rather than take out a reverse mortgage, you agree with an investor that your house is worth £500k and that you will pay him 10% of an agreed market rental for as long as you use the £50k he invested.

And use an LLC or LLP wrapper to do so.

Then when the time comes to go into sheltered accommodation, you still have a (100-x)% share of the ownership and of the market rental, and have the option of selling the property conventionally, or bringing in another "Occupier" into the property and selling some or part of your share of the rentals he pays over time.

Or to minimise your Inheritance Tax liability when you die in the house you love, you can pass over some of your Equity Shares over time to your kids and pay them a rental in cash or even in more equity shares instead of cash.

Infinitely configurable, (and you don't need a Will cos the LLP agreement says what happens when you die). You won't read much about it because simple models like this don't appeal to professional advisers paid by the hour, rather than by the outcome.

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson