More FTB questions: How Much? Gifted deposits?

clairus

Hello everyone,

We have a few first time buyer questions, so if anyone could steer us in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated:

1 Very roughly, how much can we borrow?
My husband and I have a combined income circa £60,000/year. We each have no debt, apart from student loan repayments, and our credit records should be very good (credit cards automatically paid off in full every month).
Looking at a few online 'how much can I borrow' checkers on bank websites, we can borrow up to 4.5x our combined income, but looking at The Ultimate Mortgage calculator on this site, it advises we may be able to borrow up to 2.8x our combined income. Can anyone advise which is closer to the truth? It is a few months before we will be looking seriously, but I don't want to let my idle looking on Rightmove get out of hand by looking at houses which are too far above our price band!

2 Partly Gifted Deposit
Our current aim is to have a 15% deposit on a £170,000 house (subject to any answers to question 1) and £5000 expenses (i.e.£30,500) minimum before we begin looking for property. Our parents have kindly agreed to gift us a sum of money that puts us 3 months closer to our savings target . I understand this is okay (but we may have to get a letter stating the money is a gift).
In addition, my parents have offered to loan us money to make our deposit up to 20%, an amount that we could very comfortably pay back once in the house within 2 years (whilst still saving). We would ensure that there we were very strict at paying this back so as no to leave my parents out of pocket (i.e. giving them postdated cheques or setting up a DD etc).
I have seen mention on these boards of gifted deposits not being looked at favourably, and understandably classed as a monthly debt, but the ones mentioned have always been much larger figures. Would I need to give the mortgage broker our re-payment schedule, as agreed with my parents? It doesn't really seem official enough to show how it impacts upon our mortgage affordability.

3 Items required in application
I've started to read about what items are required for arranging the mortgage, and just wanted to check if anyone had any experience with online wage slips-my employer moved over to them approx 3 years ago, are they accepted or do I need to speak to my employer about something more 'official'?

Thank you for reading (if anyone made it down this far!)

Wh05apk

All depends on the lender, but:

1/ Potentially upto 5x joint income

2/ If you will be making repayments on the "gift" they should be declared and taken into account

3/ Again depends on the lender, just keep what you have along with bank statements, they may suffice, failing that the lender may do an employers reference.

ACG

1) I work to 4x income. This is usually pretty close to what is obtainable with the majority of lenders. Some will allow more, but it depends on your circumstances.

2) Gifted deposit is fine, so long as your parents sign a letter saying they're not expecting it back. A loaned deposit isnt acceptable.

3) Online wage slips are fine in the main. Some lenders may request a P60 or bank statements or an employers reference to confirm it. Its worth getting copies of your credit reports also, just to make sure there are no nasty surprises.

julieb1987

As regards to the gifted deposit, we were in the same situation. The solicitors sent us a form for my mum to sign to say that it wasn't a loan, she wasn't charging interest, and that she has no financial interest in the property so cannot claim for deposit amount when/if we sell. This was sent to the bank and wasn't a problem!