A home above, below or beside commercial premises is assessed case by case rather than against a list of businesses. This sets out what one provider publishes, what a valuer is weighing when a case is referred, and what you can establish before anyone visits.
The criteria we opened do not decline this and they do not list banned trades. They refer it, in one sentence, to somebody who has been to look.
Equity release may involve a lifetime mortgage, secured against your property, or a home reversion plan. It will reduce the value of your estate and impact funding long-term care.
“Any property above, below or adjacent to commercial properties. All cases are subject to valuers comments.”
Legal & General, opened 6 September 2026 · listed as “Refer”
One sentence, and what it does is send the case to a valuer rather than to a rule. There is no list of acceptable and unacceptable businesses in these criteria, and no distance.
One provider on one date, quoted as an example of how such a rule can be written. Other lenders publish their own and some are stricter.
What the business actually is, when it operates, how the two buildings physically relate, whether there is separate access, and how readily the home would sell with the business there. All of that is a judgement about resale, which is what a lender is ultimately lending against.
Which is why a solicitor’s office downstairs and a late-night takeaway downstairs are not the same case, even though the criteria give them the same one-line treatment. The rule refers it; the valuer decides it.
Tell you that living near a pub means no. It does not, on the criteria we opened, and a page that said otherwise would be inventing a rule that is not there.
It will also not tell you the opposite. A referral is not an acceptance. It means somebody has to go and form a view, and the view has not been formed yet.
All of this is a walk to your own front door and a look at the sign next to it. Because the case gets referred rather than decided, what you can describe accurately is what the valuer will be working from.
Equity release may involve a lifetime mortgage, secured against your property, or a home reversion plan. It will reduce the value of your estate and impact funding long-term care.
Observation rather than paperwork, apart from the last one.
Because this is referred rather than decided, the useful questions are about what would help rather than about whether you qualify.
Is my property above, below or adjacent to the commercial use?
All three are named in the criteria we have. Being clear which one applies to you saves a conversation.
What would the valuer be weighing, given it is referred rather than decided?
Saleability. Asking what specifically would help lets you provide it rather than wait for it.
Does my home have its own access, and does that help?
Worth raising early. It is one of the concrete differences between two otherwise similar properties.
Which lenders refer this and which decline it outright?
For an adviser with the whole market. One lender referring is not the same as the market referring.
If it is referred and then declined, what was the actual reason?
Ask in writing. "Commercial premises" is not a reason; what the valuer said about saleability is.
Short answers to the things that come up most. None of it is advice, and every figure on this page carries its source.
Not automatically. The published criterion refers rather than declines, and it is one sentence rather than a list of trades.
The wording names no trades. That is worth knowing, because a great deal of third-party content lists takeaways and pubs as though the list were published somewhere.
No. It catches commercial use below the property as well as beside it, which is the part most often missed by somebody living above a shop.
What the business actually is, where it sits in relation to your home, and whether any part of your own property is used commercially. Those are facts you can state on day one.
Equity release may involve a lifetime mortgage, secured against your property, or a home reversion plan. It will reduce the value of your estate and impact funding long-term care.
One qualified equity release adviser. They will go through your figures and tell you if there is a better answer. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity and Vimeo. Say no and none of them loads. What each one stores, and what Microsoft use theirs for.