Being made homless (self employed)

alexb123

Hi All,

Just had a big shock our landlord is selling our house so we will be homeless in 2 months

We have been saving for deposit for a house but as we are self employed we really don't know how much money in the bank is ours.

The company she owns has very few risks. The OH holds a PhD and she does consultancy as well as being Journals amongst many other things (shes a workaholic). It has never been in debt and the balance sheet keeps growing as the company expands. Further, expansion doesn't take any capital to achieve in her business. We can easily afford to repay even a high mortgage, its only the deposit we would have problems with.

With the above in mind it would really help me to know a few things, as at the moment I know nothing.

Does the type of company and its limited risk exposure help self employed people get a mortgage?

Do mortgage assessment consider that a company is growing?

What kind of deposit might someone self employed need to raise?

Is there any assistance available?

Our home is also the company office, does this make a difference?

I'm really not happy with our accountant and we were in the process of firing her. How might we carry out an assessment of what money in the bank can be used for a deposit?

Should we organise a meeting with a bank manager or someone?

Sorry for so many questions this is quite a shock

Thanks for any help that might be offered its really needed.

ACG

You would need a minimum 5% deposit and 2 years accounts or 15% and 1 years accounts as a bare minimum I think.

Your partner should really know how much in the bank is yours - rule number 1 of being self employed is always make sure there is enough to cover the tax man (As a general rule, I transfer 80% of everything I earn in to my personal account - even the first £10k tax allowance, that way anything in my business account I know is not mine until the end of the tax year).

It could be worth meeting up with a broker and going through your situation, they can then hopefully give you an idea of what you need or where you need to be so if you are not in a position to do it now you know how far off.

alexb123

ACG many thanks for the reply Accounts is the business downfall but its healthy enough to be sure to always cover the tax bill and more. Too much work has left the admin lacking.

How might we find a broker do you need one that are specialists in people that are self employed? Any other tips? Sorry this is all new!

ACG

Ask friends/family?
Have a look on google, ring around and see how you get on with them?

alexb123

Cheers will look into it

Prothet_of_Doom

With my Ltd company, I run a spreadsheet, which I update monthly, which pretty much tells me, IF I closed the company today, and paid the HMRC what they are due, what is mine, after tax.
The business bank account has a side savings account. Strange the the amount in that side account is my estimate of what the business will owe. Some self employed people, just throw 40% of everything in a side account, and let the accountant work out what they owe, and treat their pessimistic excess, as a bonus.

When I get to year end, my accountant uses my spreadsheet, and supporting files to tell me, I owe a different, slightly smaller amount. But most of the time I know exactly what I owe and therefore what will be mine should I chose to take it.

As of this morning I appear to have a BTL mortgage approved on the basis of 2 years accounts, 2 p60's and 2 months payslips, plus a short reference from the accountant. Still need the valuation to go through though.

Prothet_of_Doom

alexb123 wrote: »

ACG many thanks for the reply Accounts is the business downfall but its healthy enough to be sure to always cover the tax bill and more. Too much work has left the admin lacking.

How might we find a broker do you need one that are specialists in people that are self employed? Any other tips? Sorry this is all new!

Be wary. My tip is that a broker will use smoke and mirrors to justify the need for them, and actually going direct might not be so hard.

A lot of people in this country are employed via there own ltd companies, (although you call it self employment, and it's technically not the same) and if you have the track record of 2 years of accounts.

In terms of getting the right accountant? Yes my first one, turned out to be not very good. Late usually, and often wrong. It did one thing for me. I never trust what I'm told without going on the HMRC website and reading the guidance notes. Before I was a bit trusting