First time buyer: mortgage, credit check...and Brexit.

*max*

Hi all,

First of all, I should say I am French, although I have now lived and worked in the UK for over 15 years.

I am thinking of buying a property, after 15 years of renting. I live in Belfast, where properties can be very affordable on my salary. I earn around 20K a year as an hourly employee, but could easily work overtime (I work from home).

I would be looking at properties around 70K.

So, my first question is: would I be likely to be accepted for a mortgage on my income ? I have no debts, apart from a currently unused £600 overdraft. I have never taken out a loan, nor failed to pay bills or had a late payment, everything is direct debit. I am however not on the electoral roll (something I intend to rectify). I would also be gifted a deposit by my family (in the region of 5/6K, maybe more.)

Second question: would Brexit prevent me from being accepted for a mortgage? I currently have no "official" residency permit, only the right to reside, and work, as an EU citizen. Would mortgage lenders be reluctant to lend to me because of this, assuming affordability has been okayed?

Am I being unrealistic in wanting to buy at this time? I apologise if I am being extremely naive, this is the first time I have thought about a mortgage.

I would appreciate any advice and any thoughts on the matter!

juniordoc

I can't answer your question about brexit but this may be something you have to directly ask a bank. I would not expect you to be refused a mortgage if you met affordability criteria however.

I think your salary is reasonable enough to afford a mortgage but my question would be why have you not managed to put aside any money in savings to contribute towards buying a property?
Remember as well as the deposit there are other costs such as a survey, mortgage arrangement fees and solicitors fees, would your family also gift you enough for these?
Owning a home also comes responsibility for the building and potentially paying for costly repairs, if you aren't able to put aside money for savings currently, how would you afford these?

*max*

That's a great point. I am currently saving about £200/£300 a month and have been for a while. I don't have enough for a deposit, but would have enough for maintenance and repairs, plus fees. I was considering the situation as of right now, but of course my savings will have grown in a few months. I am not expecting to be buying immediately.

Thrugelmir

Electoral registration is extremely important as it is what glues your credit history together. The sooner you are on the roll the better.

I don't envisage Brexit causing issues to individuals already working and residing in the UK.

To boost your savings. Consider starting a HTB ISA.

ACG

As things stand you are an EU citizen which gives you the same rights as a UK national. After Brexit, that may change but until that happens it would be illegal (I think) for banks to treat you any differently to a UK citizen.