Getting a mortgage while on probation through an agency

TheKeymeister

Hi,

Recently put my shared ownership house up for sale, after jumping through about 1000 hoops for the housing association, I've finally been allowed to put it up with an agent, and had two viewings in the first two days, one of which wants to come back for a second viewing tomorrow - happy days!

This causes me a bit of a problem, I started a new job in October and I am on probation for 3 months, during which I am technically working for an agency/recruitment company (they use the company to find new people, and after 3 months don't have to pay a fee to take employees from the agency)

This means my probation finishes at the end of December, and I will sign a permanent contract with the company just before. I fully expected to not sell my house until the start of next year, so it would have all sorted itself out - but the way it's looking so far, it may well be sold much sooner. The person that is coming for the second viewing apparently asked what my situation was and how quickly would they be able to move in!

I went to Halifax while I was working my previous job in about July/August, as I have all of my accounts with them, and they said they were able to lend me around £140k with a 10% deposit. I did ask about what would happen if I changed jobs (nothing was confirmed at that point) and they said it shouldn't be a problem as long as I'm in continuous employment.

Now I know Halifax are one of the lenders that don't seem too bothered about being on probation, as long as it's not a completely different type of work and there's no gap in employment, but does the agency bit muddy the waters? Should I be going to a mortgage adviser, or stick with the Halifax as they "know" me already?

The other option is to stick all my stuff in a container for a few weeks and try again when I've signed a permanent contract - I'm not actually living in the house, I'm staying with my girlfriend, so it doesn't cause a problem, just means 2 lots of hiring a van!

Any advice very welcome :beer:

TheKeymeister

Well I need to find out a bit sooner now...accepted an offer this morning for full asking price! This is after being on the market for 3 days!

I will give Halifax a ring in the morning and try and get hold of the mortgage adviser I saw and see how I get on.

Conrad

Mentioning agency work will likely kill the deal.

TheKeymeister

Halifax didn't seem to be too bothered, and I have a decision in principle with me...

opinions4u

TheKeymeister wrote: »

Halifax didn't seem to be too bothered, and I have a decision in principle with me...

Have you read the disclaimer on it?

"This is just a piece of paper and we haven't checked anything. If we don't want to, we don't have to lend you a penny".

Or words to that effect.

TheKeymeister

opinions4u wrote: »

Have you read the disclaimer on it?

"This is just a piece of paper and we haven't checked anything. If we don't want to, we don't have to lend you a penny".

Or words to that effect.

Yeah, had a look into it, I think it was OK based on the last part of this

Sub Contractors, Fixed/short term contracts and Agency workers

Applications will be considered from the above employment types if the customer has a current continuous employment of 12 months or more with 6 months of the contract remaining or the customer has 2 years continuous service in the same type of employment.

I've been in the same 'type of employment' for the last 6 years, and by the time it comes to it, I'll have probably signed a permanent contract anyway looking at how its going!

TheKeymeister

Just to wrap this up - had an offer accepted on a house on the 29th Nov, proceeded with application with Halifax on 30th, valuation was done on the 7th Dec, and mortgage offer sent on the 10th....so it would appear that being on probation through an agency isn't necessarily a problem. Hope this helps someone else in the future. Thanks