Pregnancy and Mortgage 12 February 2018 at 6:43PM in MoneySaving mums 8 replies 6.2K views

YankeeShop123

Hello

In need of advice/guidance.

My partner and I live in a 1 bed maisonette, unfortunately I miscarried a few weeks ago and it got us to thinking that we would like to try again but we will need a bigger place. We went to see a mortgage advisor the other day and he said we could afford to buy a house/flat (I have inheritance left over from a grandparent passing so I used that as a deposit but left a bit of money to put aside for emergencies). I had asked about getting pregnant and he said that it could affect us getting a mortgage as lenders see it as a dip in income. I am willing to wait till after we get the house and have a mortgage but it worries me we will struggle with the payments if I go on maternity leave. Is it manageable on low income (17K) + maternity leave and a mortgage? Is it covered in insurance?

Would love to hear what other people’s experiences are with maternity leave and having a mortgage.

Thanks

YankeeShop123

*maternity pay

BorisThomson

No, maternity leave is not covered by insurance. It's a life choice, not an illness.

Your ability to pay your mortgage will depend on your household income, your outgoings and how much your mortgage is.

BachSoon

My husband and I just got a new mortgage despite me being pregnant. Our mortgage broker placed us with Halifax who didn't mind the fact that I am pregnant and will be on maternity leave, as I intend to go back to work.
It didn't seem to make the slightest bit of difference that I was pregnant as it all was straight forward and no different to my first mortgage process. We just provided the usual payslips and all was straight forward.
It would be subject to the usual affordability etc of course, but there are lenders who don't seem to mind maternity leave.

sulphate

It’s simple enough. Get a mortgage before you get pregnant. Then just make sure you have enough in savings / income to pay the bills and cut your cloth accordingly whilst on maternity leave. You’ll immediately notice that you won’t be socialising as much!

So sorry to hear about your miscarriage, I had one last year and it was horrific. Thinking of you. X

sn1987a

I am sorry to hear about your miscarriage. The problem is not only the maternity pay but the expense of nursery when baby is older, if you use one. We got a mortgage before baby arrives in case the best lender wouldn't give us one if on maternity pay. However, we sat down and checked that we can afford to pay it when I am on maternity leave and in case I can't go back to work e.g having twins.it all depends on your income and expenses.

Zandy_23

So sorry you had a miscarriage. Try to consider a cheaper flat at a lower interest rate. Planning to have a baby alongside mortgage payments is really tough and requires a lot of saving and sacrifices.

cyantist

I'm really sorry about the miscarriage.

It's not compulsory to take more than 2 weeks maternity leave and given that you'd likely get at least 90% earning for 6 weeks, affording the mortgage while on leave isn't actually hard. Obviously if you want to take a full year off you'd need to save quite a bit unless your company has an amazing parental leave package.

What we have found a lot more difficult is what sn1987a says: childcare costs are very expensive. We pay £5 an hour, which is really cheap for our area but it is a big expense. For a lot of people their childcare bill exceeds their mortgage.

YankeeShop123

Hello

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for the kind messages and help We have done a budget planner to see where we can save some money and it’s doable I think we will have to think twice before spending unnecessarily.