Equity release lets homeowners, usually in later life, take money out of their house without selling it. The loan is secured on the property and is normally repaid when the last borrower dies or moves into long-term care. Because that can be many years away, the lender needs confidence that the house will still be worth what it is today. A roof that might be hiding a moisture problem puts that confidence at risk.
This guide deals only with the equity release side. Ordinary mortgages follow different rules, which our guide to spray foam and mortgages explains. Here we set out what was reported, what it may mean for an owner with foam in the loft, and the practical options. We are roofers, and nothing in this guide is financial advice. Speak to a qualified adviser before you decide anything about borrowing against your home. The main service is on the spray foam insulation removal page.
What was reported in November 2024
The trade title Today's Conveyancer ran a story on 20 November 2024, drawing on BBC research into how lenders treat foamed homes. Among the names it gave as unwilling to lend were Aviva, which offers equity release, together with TSB, Skipton, the Co-operative Bank and Principality. A second group, Lloyds, Nationwide, Barclays, NatWest Group and Santander, said they would assess each application on its facts.
Two cautions apply. First, this is a report of what lenders said at one date. Policies change, and we do not know what any named lender requires today. Second, only one name in that list is an equity release provider, and the rest of that market may take a different view. We do not attribute a spray foam position to any trade body, and we do not say that foam must always be removed.
Why this matters for older owners
People who go for equity release are often those who have lived in their homes for decades, may have had the foam fitted under a grant or an offer some years ago, and have no paperwork. The report arrived as a shock to many of them. If this is you, you are not alone, and the situation is not hopeless. It does mean you need facts before you apply, not afterwards, and the quickest way to get them is to look at the loft with someone who knows what a foamed roof should and should not look like.
Why a lender for later life looks at the loft
Think about the lender's position. A conventional mortgage may run for twenty-five years and is repaid month by month, so the debt falls over time. A lifetime loan often does the opposite: interest adds to the balance, and the amount owed grows while the home sits there as security. If the property loses value because of a hidden fault, the lender could be left short.
Foam makes lenders nervous for a straightforward reason. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) consumer guide of March 2023 cautions that foam fitted wrongly can cause damp and condensation that nobody controls, with consequences for the wider structure, and asks for thermal and condensation checks beforehand from someone qualified. If neither the checks nor the installer's paperwork exist, a valuer cannot tell whether the loft is sound.
What a valuer may do
A valuer who sees foam in the roof void may report it, recommend a specialist inspection, suggest a retention, or refer the case back to the lender. Each outcome delays the loan. If the lender then declines, the borrower is left with a roof worry and no money released.
None of this is a judgement on you. Foam was widely fitted and widely promoted before the concerns became public. The aim now is to document the loft well enough that a valuer can see what is there and a lender can decide on facts.
Step one: find out what is in the roof
Before you approach any equity release provider, work out what you have. This is the part we can do.
An assessment of the roof void
A written assessment records which foam it is, the area it covers, the visible timbers, moisture readings and the roof's airflow. Nationally, MyBuilder's 2026 guide gives roughly £100 to £200 for one. Our guide to what a spray foam report covers lists the sections in order.
Dated photographs
Pictures taken from inside your own loft and of the visible roof are among the most useful things a lender's valuer can be handed. We take them at survey, from your own roof.
Old paperwork
Search for the original quote, invoice or guarantee, any letters from a scheme that arranged the work, and anything on a council or energy-grant file. Even an old estimate helps to pin down the foam product and the date of fitting, which the report can then refer to, and which makes a valuer's job simpler.
Ask your adviser what is needed
An equity release adviser will know what the shortlisted providers ask for on non-standard construction. Ask early, and ask in writing, because it tells you whether to commission an assessment at all or go straight to a removal quote.
Arranging an assessment first carries no commitment to remove anything. It gives you information whichever way the decision goes, and it lets you compare the cost of removal with the cost of living with the uncertainty, which for some owners is a delay of months on a plan to release funds.
Your realistic options
With a report in hand, an owner has four broad paths. Which fits depends on the condition of the roof, the provider and your own plans for the house.
Apply with the evidence
Some lenders consider foam case by case, so a clean assessment with photographs may be enough to proceed. This costs only the assessment but carries the risk that the valuer or lender still declines.
Remove the foam first
Taking the foam off and re-insulating removes the question. MyBuilder's 2026 national ranges give removal at about £20 to £50 per m², averaging around £1,500, plus about £150 to £400 for disposal and about £500 to £3,000 for repairs and new insulation. Our spray foam removal cost guide explains the costs in full. Those are national typical ranges and not our prices, and your own written quote follows the survey.
Remove part of it
If the foam covers one slope or a damp zone only, the report may support taking out that area. A lender may or may not accept the remainder, so check first.
Look at other ways to raise money
Some owners decide that a different route, such as a different type of lender or a smaller release, suits them better. That is a financial decision for you and your adviser, and not one for a roofer to steer.
Do not commit to roof work solely on a hunch about what a lender might want. Ask the adviser or the provider what they would accept, then decide.
If you decide to remove the foam
Removal is a manual job, and the sequence matters if the aim is to satisfy a later valuer.
Before work
The survey photographs the foam in place. The written quote then covers scaffold, strip, removal, waste, timber repair if needed, re-insulation and making good. Where the roof is a Cotswold stone slate roof, the slates are numbered, sorted and set aside to go back on the same house, with like-for-like replacement where stone has perished.
During work
Foam is cut or scraped from the covering and the timbers, bagged and carted off. Timbers that become visible are inspected and photographed, which gives you the evidence a valuer wants. If we find rot or insect damage, we tell you and quote the repair.
After work
The loft is re-insulated, and the roof is ventilated in line with the moisture code, BS 5250. New loft insulation goes without VAT until 31 March 2027, but the removal and repair work carries it, and the quote states which is which.
Keep the final photographs, the invoice and the written workmanship guarantee, which runs for ten years. Together they form the bundle that you can show an adviser or a valuer. Whether building control is involved depends on the work; see our answer on spray foam removal and building control.
Reading the RICS guide as an equity release applicant
The RICS consumer guide is not written for equity release, but its checklist is handy for anyone talking to a lender. It tells owners to ask the mortgage provider whether lender policy permits such products, and to put the same question to the insurer about cover. Our guide to the RICS guidance on spray foam reads the whole document through.
Questions to put to a provider
- Do you lend on a home with spray foam in the roof, and on what conditions?
- Do you require a specialist report, and from whom?
- If the foam is removed, what evidence of the work will you accept?
- Would you apply a retention, and for how long?
Your own home insurance
Equity release usually requires buildings insurance to be kept up. Check the policy wording about insulation and ask your insurer in writing. If the insurer has a view on foam, you want to know before the lender asks.
Whatever the answers, keep copies of every email, because positions on foam have shifted over the last few years and a written reply is your record of what was said and when.
Speaking to us, and to a financial adviser
The two conversations are separate and both worthwhile. A financial adviser deals with the loan, the lender and your options for borrowing. We deal with the roof: surveying it, reporting on it, and quoting for any work.
Tell us the address, what you know about the foam, and whether an equity release application is in progress, because that tells us what the report needs to show. We prioritise leaks, so if the roof is actually letting in water, say so and we will make it safe first.
The phone number is 01453 933613, and WhatsApp and the enquiry form work as well. Photographs of the loft help us prepare. The assessment, and the written quote that follows it, give an adviser documents to read. If work goes ahead we match materials like for like and finish with the site cleared and waste gone.