Am I classed as self employed?

making_endsmeet

OK, quick couple of questions!

I'm 28 years old and one of 2 directors of a ltd co that has been trading for 2 and a half years. I am the only employee and the first set of accounts shows a loss of £40k, most recent set (up to April 13) will show a net profit of £6k.

My question is; will lenders view me as self employed? Girlfriend and I met with Lloyds for a quick chat about their lend a hand mortgage and they seemed to class me as self employed even though I'm a Director and a salaried employee of the company. They also said 3 years accounts would be preferable.

Please can anyone advise as to whether Lloyds' view is a fairly common one?

amnblog

Generally if you own at least 25% of the business you will be considered self-employed.

You need some help from a mortgage broker on this one in all probability.

making_endsmeet

Thanks for your quick reply! Ownership of the company is a direct 50/50 with the other director.

kingstreet

You may be classed as "self-employed" but that does not necessarily mean it's three years' accounts, or nothing.

There are lenders who will accept director's remuneration and dividends evidenced by a couple of years SA302s from HMRC.

A broker will give you a much wider scope than an employee of a bank who thinks their employer's option is the only option...

making_endsmeet

We're off to see a whole of market broker in the next couple of weeks so hopefully some light will be shed on the matter! Just thought I'd check whether Lloyds' response of 3 yrs accounts or nothing was generally industry standard.

Dave_Ham

Just to realistically set your expectations, this is going to be hard work especially assuming you have a low % deposit vs loan to value.

3 years is an industry standard, but there are lenders that would look at less. That said, there are likely to be loan to value restrictions on this.

Good luck with your broker.

kingstreet

I agree.

I recently placed a case where;-

- he had worked for a family business for 18 months but was self-employed before that - the lender accepted three years SA302s

- she had worked for an agency as a "temp" for just under two years and they accepted payslips and a letter from the agency saying her placement was ongoing.

This was for an 80% advance.