Equity Release & Succession Refinance
Take money out without selling up.
Most of what you are worth is locked inside your motel, park or pub. Draw it out, keep the business and the income, without a sale.
Your nest egg is locked in the business.
Locked in the business
Most of what you are worth
Released to you
The business keeps trading
A refinance turns equity you already hold into cash, without selling a thing.
You are here for one of three reasons.
Slow down
Take a lump sum, keep the income.
You are tired and you have earned it. A release frees a lump sum and the business keeps running quietly in the background, still paying you, which can help with deposits for self-employed borrowers buying property later.
Keep it fair
Pay the other kids now.
One child runs it, the others get their share in cash now, so the estate is settled fairly while you are still here to see it.
Buy a partner out
Pay them out, take control.
Pay a departing partner or sibling in full, cleanly, and take full control now, instead of an instalment plan that ties you together for years.
No, it is not a reverse mortgage.
Reverse mortgage
- Against your home
- For personal use
- Consumer credit law
- Built for retirees
This: a business refinance
- Against your business
- A commercial loan
- Judged on income
- Completely ordinary
Online, "equity release" almost always means the home product. Yours is a business refinance. Your accountant can confirm the difference.
Your age is not the barrier here.
On a home loan
- Must repay before retirement
- Age can rule you out
On a business loan
- Judged on the asset's income
- Age is not the gate
It still looks at the asset, the income and the security, wants guarantees, and will ask who runs the place if you step back. A simple management plan covers that.
Keep all of it, or sell a slice.
Refinance & keep it
Borrow against the business. The cleanest route, and the one I arrange.
Sell a slice
A partner buys a share. Releases cash, you keep the majority.
Arranging the loan and the refinance is my job as a credit representative. Selling a share in a trust or co-ownership is a financial product behind a licence, so a licensed partner handles that, and I introduce you. Partial sale and succession, explained.
What you can take out.
Typically 60% to 70% of value, via a commercial property loan. Market-standard ranges, not an offer.
How it is done.
Refinance
Clears debt, frees the rest
Business purpose
Outside consumer credit
Your advisers
Accountant + solicitor
Equity, if any
Via a licensed partner
The legal and tax work is your solicitor's and accountant's. I arrange the finance and build the release around it.
Releasing equity, or covering a deadline?
Equity release
- Capital from a business you keep
- A refinance against the going concern
Just timing
- Money for a short, set window
- Private lending or a caveat, then refinanced out
The questions owners actually ask.
Yes, that is exactly what this is for. It releases capital while you keep the asset and the income, because it is assessed on the business, not on whether you are still working.
No. A reverse mortgage and the Home Equity Access Scheme are residential products against your home, under consumer credit law. This is commercial lending against your business. Different security, different rules.
Age is far less of a barrier than on a home loan. The retirement-age test that blocks home loans does not apply to business lending, which is assessed on the asset and its income. A lender still runs its own checks.
As a market-standard range, freehold going concern motels and parks are typically financed at around 60% to 70% of value, and supporting security can lift that. Your figure depends on the asset, the trade and the valuation.
Releasing equity through a refinance is borrowing, not a sale, so it does not by itself trigger a capital gains event the way selling would. Tax depends on your circumstances, so your accountant should confirm it.
Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons owners do it. A release frees the cash so the child running the business keeps it and the others get their fair share now, while you are still here to see it settled.
A refinance against the business can pay the departing owner in full, which is usually cleaner than instalments. An independent valuation sets a fair price. The tax depends on how the business is held, so bring your accountant and solicitor in early.
Yes. Most accommodation businesses are held in a company or trust, and that is normal for this lending. Borrowing through a company or trust generally keeps it outside consumer credit, as business-purpose lending.
Working out what is next?
Slowing down, sorting the family, or buying someone out, I will show you what you could draw and how it would be funded, without selling.
By Nick Lim, founder of Switchboard Finance. General information, not credit, legal or tax advice.