Help/Advice please

Tilerman

I live in a HA house with 48% discount,the house was valued at 120k but the housing association took so long and lost our paperwork th house is now worth 130k,they apologised for the delay and agreed to stay at the 120k as they took so long.This gave us a buying price of £62400.
We approached Lloyds Bank and they looked at the figures and we was prepared to put down £12400 deposit leaving a 50k mortgage.BTW i am 51 and my partner is 39.They agreed the mortgage and arranged solicitors and surveys etc,We paid for these up front and I also transferred 15k from my Barclays account to Lloyds for a joint account called Club Lloyds which got us a discount on mortgage,2.9%.
This all happened in early March of this year,It has taken forever with people being on holiday and bereavements to staff at Lloyds etc so this week we got a call from Lloyds and i thought great.finally they want us to sign forms etc,this is my first ever mortgage and my partners too.
The call from Lloyds was to tell us they had made a mistake and that my partner's wages couldn't be taken into account for the mortgage as she (and me for that matter but she is main career as i work as a ceramic tiler)is a Foster Parent and Fostering wages cannot be counted as we only look after kids??? ( I think we do far more than that actually).
What can we do about this,my partner was in bits at this news?The mortgage would be less than our rent over 10 years yet they now want a bigger deposit and then maybe they will agree again? Last 3 years between us we have earned 20k between us each year.
We feel conned,the money we have spent ,the hopes we had of moving away from a poor area(after 5 years).
Can they do this?It's taken14weeks for them to notice their mistake? Is there anything I can do? Thankyou.

kingstreet

Find a broker.

Other lenders take a different approach to fostering income.

You just happened to go to one which wasn't right for you in the first place.

Tilerman

I take it from the silence,I don't have a leg to stand on regards complaining?
This I presume is standard practice from Banks?
What a country we live in.

Boredatwrork

Kingstreet nailed it. Find a (Free) Broker, its in their interests to make it work for you. thats how they get paid.

In regards to Lloyds, as they have admitted it was thier mistake make a song and dance about it (in a branch would be more effective), you might get something back, and also there may be something negative unfairly added on your record I would demand they confirm (in writing) that it has been removed.