Dependents and mortgages

flathunting

Hi everyone,

It would be great if I can have some advice/people's experiences on how having kids/dependents affect the affordability calculations when applying for a mortgage please. Do all lenders reduce the amount you can borrow when you have kids?

The reason I ask is I'm currently having a bit of a dilemma about how I should proceed in the near future. Currently I live in a 2 bed terrace house with my fianc! which I bought in 2013. The mortgage payments are low and really affordable for us. After we get married, we are looking to start a family and so we are unsure whether to sell and buy a bigger house initially before we have kids (in case having kids really affects the amount a lender would let us borrow.) Or whether to stay put and move in a few years when there is a greater need to assuming all goes well.

Many thanks for any help/experiences.

ACG

In short, it comes down to your circumstances. Some lenders will reduce if you have kids, some will not. There is no black and white answer and it could change 100 times between now and 2-3 years down the line.

If you are looking to stretch your incomes, then I imagine it would be best to do it before having kids. Best bet is to jump on a few affordability calculators and have a play about. Try 5-6 lenders with and without and you will see how much they all vary.

glosoli

The number of dependants can influence the affordability calculations a lender does, particularly if they base their calculations on the ONS figures based on the household of your size. So for example, if you have two children then it would be based on the average expenditure nationwide for two adult and two children. Child benefit, if taken into consideration, can go some way in negating the impact of this however.