Ask the experts
About our experts...
At John Charcol, we are constantly asked for advice by borrowers on what they should do when it comes to mortgages. As such, we created this section so that you can submit your questions to our experts. The answers are provided by a number of people who have years of experience in the mortgage market. The team is led by Peter Woodward who spent his formative years as an underwriter with one of the major UK lenders and the last 10 years in our Technical Department along side Ray.
So please do submit your question and we will do all we can to answer it as quickly as possible
Please be aware that these answers can only be generic and no personal recommendations can be made.
Posted on 15/08/2010
My father lives in Australia whilst I live here in the UK. My question is, can my father be a guarantor for my property here in the UK?
Categories: Guaranteeing & buying with child
Posted on 05/09/2009
My partner is a day trader, and therefore is self-employed, but cant prove income in the form of payslips or 3 years accounts, but has bank statements that show money going into the accounts from his spreadbetting accounts and also hold 100,000 of sterling in forex. What type of mortgage can we get? Self-cert, 100%+ (as we dont have substantial deposit).
Lastly would lenders take into account Disability Living Allowance, Careers Allowance, Child Tax Credit & Child Benefit (coming in at just over 800 per month)
What options do we have?
Sara
Sara,
Many lenders only require 2 years accounts and so if your partner has been trading for 2 years and gets his accounts done that should enable you to get a normal mortgage, but you would have to put down a deposit of at least 10%. The only alternatives would be either a self certification mortgage, for which you need a minimum deposit of 20%, but to get a reasonable interest rate 25%, or a guarantor mortgage. Normally the guarantor would have to be one of either you or your partner’s parents and they would have to be able to prove adequate income to support both your mortgage and any mortgage they had. A self cert mortgage would be the most expensive of these options, as well as requiring the biggest deposit.
Some lenders will take into account some social security benefits, a key factor being whether they are short or long term benefits. I am not familiar with a careers allowance but this sounds short term and so probably would not be taken into account but the others possibly could be. If you would like more specific advice please call one of our consultants on 0800 71 81 91
Categories: Guaranteeing & buying with child, Self-certification
Posted on 04/05/2008
Bit of a convoluted question but I hope you can help...! I am a first time buyer and I'm considering a shared ownership type arrangement with a family friend who is looking to invest in property. Would it be possible for us to purchase a property on the open market jointly (say with me owning 50% and my investor 50%)? And if so how would I go about getting a mortgage? Can I get a mortgage just for my part or would my investor and I have to get a joint mortgage for the whole amount less our deposit? My investor could probably fund his share through existing savings or I guess if he did need to borrow, he'd probably prefer to extend his own mortgage (i.e. on his home). Would that be feasible in light of my requirement to get a mortgage for my share?
Also I notice that for the housing association shared ownership schemes you have to pay some element of rent as well. With our private arrangement rather than paying rent I wondered whether it would be possible to formalise some kind if arrangement that my investor gets back as higher share (%) of the sale value when we eventually sell - say after 5 years? So if we brought the property on a 50:50% basis, that maybe he'd get an extra 1% per year so that after 5 years he'd receive 55% of the sale value and I'd receive 45% - I'm hoping that the current price falls are short term and that by then the prices would have increased - at last by 5% over 5 years so I don't get negative equity! I understand that the mortgage market is pretty selective at present so I'd appreciate any advice with regards the feasibility of getting a mortgage, taking into account the above and also any advice on the legalities of our proposed arrangement.
Any help / advice you could offer me would be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards
Victoria
Categories: First-time buyer, Guaranteeing & buying with child, Shared ownership
Posted on 06/03/2008
I'm going through a divorce and am unemployed, but want to return to work after college in 2-3 years. I have a joint mortgage and upon sale of the house will have a large deposit for purchase of new home. My parents are retired and own their home outright - could they act as guarantors to enable me to get a mortgage when my only income will be child support?
Categories: Guaranteeing & buying with child
Posted on 01/03/2008
Are there any lenders who would allow me to raise a mortgage of up to £150,000 in my name only with my father as a guarantor? Although retired, he has no mortgage and can prove an income of £38,000 and myself of £21,000. Both of us have an excellent credit score and I would be also able to put a deposit of 25% of full purchase price down. Hope you can help. Thanks
Categories: Guaranteeing & buying with child
Posted on 18/10/2007
Hi l want to assist my son to purchase a house, could we buy a property jointly and combine our salaries to obtain a mortgage?
Categories: First-time buyer, Guaranteeing & buying with child
Posted on 08/10/2007
I wish to take out a mortgage my father’s property for 50% of its value so he can use the money to buy another property with his partner which would leave me only living in the first property. My father owns this property outright (no mortgage on it currently). I currently live in the property with my father.
My question is can I take out a mortgage for 50% of the property value in my name only but my father still retain his interest in the other 50% of the property?
My father is willing to transfer the property over to me outright as long as he still, legally, has an interest in 50% of the property.
The reason I wish to have the mortgage in my name only is so that I am not limited to which lender I can go to as would be the case if I had a joint mortgage with my father due to my father’s age / income (he is 60 and on a low wage).
Also when I wish to remortgage at the end of the offer period, again this would be more straightforward.
Categories: Guaranteeing & buying with child, Mortgages in retirement
Answers provided in response to Ask the experts are based on the information provided and do not constitute advice under the Financial Services & Markets Act. They reflect the personal views of the authors and do not neccessarily represent the views, positions, strategies or opinions of John Charcol. All comments are made in good faith, and John Charcol will not accept liability for them.
We recommend you seek professional advice with regard to any of these topics where appropriate.