How long does my husband have to be self employed before a lender would consider us for a mortgage?

Posted on 1 October 2007

Please can you give me some info on Mortgages for the Self Employed, my husband has recently set up his own business, 9 months ago and we currently have a mortgage that was secured with his previous job, if we were to move in the future how long would he have to have been self employed for before we'd be considered and what rates/ratios would we be looking at for borrowing. We currently own two thirds of our home and would probably be looking at a similar figure. I also work part time and earn around £12000 pa, any info would be appreciated.

Julie

Dear Julie,

As you are only borrowing one third of the value of your property you are in a very good position to negotiate.  Good brokers will be able to speak to the underwriters directly for you and have the case looked at as a whole on its merits; and good credit score. Also you should mention if the self-employed business is of a similar industry/ role to the employer role he had.  Your £12,000 will also be valuable, this alone can support £50,000 - £60,000 of borrowing.

Lenders differ on how long they allow you to have been self-employed for. Mainstream lenders with the best rates will ask that you have two years worth of full accounts, so that normally doesn't happen unless you have been trading for three.  At the other end of the scale Kensington can look at a case with less than even six month self-employed history.  Other lenders that would certainly look at your situation because of the size of the deposit are Leeds, Northern Rock, Cheltenham and Gloucester, BM Solutions, Woolwich (particularly if you have a Barclays current account) and Bristol & West.

The secret is to take to a broker what you do have (maybe bank statements from which a profit and loss can be gleaned).

Katie.

Category: Self-certification, The application process explained

• Save to del.icio.us
• Digg this story