Mortgage for Offshore Agency Worker?

lizzibeff

My husband and I are looking at Help to Buy on a new home.

I am permanently employed and on 30K. My husband is classed as an ad-hoc contractor through an offshore recruitment agency, but has been continuously employed with the same agency since May 2012, and almost a full year has been on one continuous contract with work guaranteed for his team until Christmas. He is PAYE through the agency he works for.

Obviously he is highly paid, so we'd like to be able to take his salary into account as it would mean the difference between a 3 bed on solely my salary or a 4 bed jointly.

We are seeing an IFA this evening, so we will get some professional advice, but I wondered what the feeling is on what we should expect.

Let_Us_See

Shouldn't be a problem with careful selection of lender. However, have you considereed your financial future if your husband has no work post-christmas?

lizzibeff

Yes, that's definitely something we need to consider.

At the moment we're trying to look at things objectively and make sure that we don't over-commit ourselves if he is out of work for, say a 3 month stretch. Having said that, the quoted mortgage repayments from Taylor Wimpey on a 4 bed house aren't that much more than what we pay in rent.

I'm obviously very aware that in paying a deposit, we'd be removing our safety net (i.e. our savings) from the equation.

I should add that our intention is to make hay while the sun shines, and we intend to staircase the interest-free government loan asap and/or overpay the mortgage. We want to get ourselves into the best position equity-wise as soon as we can.

sachin01663

Hi,

I am in similar situation where my wife is employed with a company through a recruitment agency, so her employment status is 'Agency Worker'.

Just wanted to know if you were able to get mortgage for your husband ? Any specific lenders who are flexible on Agency Workers?

This is very urgent as we figured out yesterday that she is agency worker and we already have offer accepted on the house.

Thanks a lot.

Sachin

Mortgage_Mark_2

Worth speaking to a broker with some experience of contractors as this is not straight forward. Not necessarily a contractor-specialist but someone who knows what they are doing as offshore agency (sounds like umbrella?) companies are a no-no for most lenders, but there is an option or two I can think of, if presented correctly.

When you say offshore, I'm guessing he receives a salary in addition to loan/trust payments? If so, be very, very careful how you approach this, most lenders will only look at taxable, i.e. basic salary, income if not presented correctly, leading to lending of about £50k on that income alone.