Buying the premises your business trades from

For directors and owners whose lease is ending or whose rent has gone up, this looks at what buying the building instead would actually involve.

Before you buy

Five questions to answer before buying your premises

Each question sets out the mechanism behind it, the consequence that follows, and the source behind the rule, so you can speak to a lender or adviser prepared.

Rent or buy the premises

Set your current rent against the cost of owning, including deposit and monthly repayments.

Who owns the building

Compare buying through the company, in your own name, or through a pension scheme.

How this differs from your mortgage

Commercial mortgages set deposits, terms and guarantees differently from the mortgage on your house.

Read the comparison

What a lender will ask

See the questions lenders typically raise about trading history, accounts and deposit source.

What a personal guarantee means

Understand what a director's guarantee means if the company cannot repay the loan.

Ownership routes

Company, director or pension: how each route works

The three routes differ in who legally owns the building once it is bought, and that choice settles a good deal of what follows for tax, for risk and for how the rent is treated.

Ownership route How it works What you take on Source
Company buys the buildingThe lease between the business and a landlord ends, since the business is now its own landlord. The business takes out the mortgage in its own name and the property sits on the company balance sheet as a business asset. Lenders commonly ask the directors to guarantee the loan personally, so putting the building on the balance sheet does not remove the personal risk if the company cannot pay. Governed by ordinary commercial lending terms.
Director buys personallyRent paid by the business goes to you personally and is taxed as your income. You hold the building in your own name and let the business occupy it, usually under a lease between you and your company. Where 40 per cent or more of the building is used as a dwelling, the borrowing you need may be a regulated mortgage, which falls outside commercial lending and points you toward a regulated adviser (RAO art. 61(3), read 30 September 2026). RAO art. 61(3), read 30 September 2026.
Pension buys the building (SIPP or SSAS)Rent paid into the scheme builds your pension. A Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) or Small Self-Administered Scheme (SSAS) owns the building outright, and the business pays rent to the scheme. The scheme can borrow toward the purchase, but only up to 50 per cent of its net fund value before the borrowing, a limit set by HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual at PTM124000 (read 30 September 2026). HMRC Pensions Tax Manual, PTM124000, read 30 September 2026.

Figures here come from HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual and the Regulated Activities Order as cited against each route. None of this is financial, pension or tax advice, and a scheme administrator or a regulated adviser should confirm how the rules apply to your own circumstances before you act.

Commercial mortgage lenders and what they publish

Each entry sets out loan-to-value limits, deposit expectations, term ranges and owner-occupier eligibility as published by the lender, with the date it was read. No lender is ranked or recommended here, so check current terms directly before you approach one.

MBS Lending

A UK specialist mortgage provider lending to borrowers with poor credit records, operating exclusively through professional brokers.

  • Lender type specialist broker-only lender conducting full affordability assessments source
  • Product types specialist residential mortgages for borrowers with missed payments, CCJs, bankruptcies, repossessions, DMPs and gifted deposits; broker-only source

Foundation Home Loans

A UK specialist mortgage lender offering tiered residential mortgage products for borrowers with adverse credit, available only through professional brokers.

  • Lender type broker-only source
  • Product types residential mortgage products split into four tiers: F1, F2, F3 and F4 source

Vida Homeloans

A UK specialist mortgage lender offering residential mortgage products with flexible lending criteria under a tiered Credit Repair range.

  • Lender type intermediary-only specialist lender source
  • Product types Credit Repair mortgages for complex incomes, low credit scores, and contractors without an established trading history; interest-only mortgages; debt consolidation source

United Trust Bank

A UK bank offering specialist mortgage products through registered intermediaries, including debt consolidation mortgages for borrowers with adverse credit.

  • Lender type broker-only source
  • Product types mortgages including debt consolidation mortgages that repay other debts and combine outstanding payments into one monthly outgoing source

Mansfield Building Society

A UK building society offering a range of residential and buy-to-let mortgage products including specialist Versatility and Credit Repair ranges for borrowers with adverse credit.

  • Lender type building society using manual underwriting without automated credit scoring source
  • Product types standard residential mortgages, Versatility range, Credit Repair mortgages, buy-to-let mortgages, Shared Ownership, holiday let source

Pepper Money

A specialist UK mortgage lender offering products for borrowers in complex or adverse credit situations, available only through authorised professional brokers.

  • Lender type specialist broker-only lender source
  • Product types residential mortgages and buy-to-let mortgages for adverse credit applicants source

Kensington Mortgages

A specialist UK mortgage lender providing lending for complex situations, operating only through brokers.

  • Lender type specialist broker-only lender source
  • Product types Failed Credit Score mortgages for applicants with little credit history, active DMP, defaults, historic CCJs or missed payments relating to unsecured payments source

Bluestone Mortgages

A specialist UK mortgage lender focusing on bad credit mortgages, using a tailored approach that does not rely on credit scoring.

  • Lender type specialist adverse credit lender using tailored underwriting without credit scoring source
  • Product types bad credit mortgages for first-time buyers, remortgage applicants and those using Help to Buy source

Aldermore

A UK mortgage lender offering fixed-rate mortgage products with flexible application criteria, available only through brokers.

  • Lender type broker-only lender source
  • Product types fixed-rate mortgage products source

Family Building Society National Counties Building Society

A UK building society offering buy-to-let mortgages for individuals, limited companies, expats, and HMO landlords.

  • Established year 2014 source
  • Lender type building society offering buy-to-let mortgages for individuals and Limited Companies, including expats source
  • Product types Individual Buy to Let mortgages, Limited Company Buy to Let mortgages, Expat Buy to Let mortgages, HMO mortgages source

Santander UK

One of the seven largest UK lenders active in the buy-to-let mortgage market.

  • Lender type one of the seven largest UK lenders source

Virgin Money Nationwide Building Society

One of the seven largest UK lenders active in the buy-to-let mortgage market.

  • Lender type one of the seven largest UK lenders source
  • Product types Fixed rate, Variable rate, First time buyer mortgages, Remortgages, Moving home, Additional borrowing, Buy to Let, Green mortgages (new build only), 95% mortgages, Shared Ownership, Right to Buy source

Buying the premises your business trades from

A lease has a landlord at the other end of it, and that landlord decides the rent, whether to renew, and what condition the building has to be kept in. Buying the premises moves those decisions to the business itself. It also brings a mortgage into the business, in a form distinct from the one most directors already know from buying their own home, and a set of consequences that sit outside the monthly repayment.

What changes when the business owns the building

Ownership removes the uncertainty of a lease renewal and whatever rent review comes with it. It also makes the business responsible for repairs, insurance and upkeep, costs a landlord would otherwise have carried. The purchase price will include a property purchase tax, and which one applies depends on where the building stands: Stamp Duty Land Tax in England and Northern Ireland, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland, and Land Transaction Tax in Wales (GOV.UK, read 30 September 2026).

More than one question

Whether to buy at all is one question. Who buys, and in what name, is a separate one, with its own tax and ownership consequences depending on the route taken. How a commercial mortgage is priced, secured and repaid differs from the mortgage on a director's own home, and that is worth understanding before a conversation with a lender or broker begins. See how this differs from your home mortgage for that comparison.

Nothing on this site is financial, mortgage, tax or legal advice, and none of it is a substitute for speaking to a lender, a pension administrator or a regulated adviser before acting.