First time buying - Help To Buy/LISA & more

Rainbow15

I'm unsure what to do in this situation, so I was looking to see if the wisdom of the MSE Forum may help. This may be a little long so bear with me.

I am currently on a training contract, but this comes to an end in September. However I have a permanent job lined up which I will be starting when all of my pre-employment checks are through (NHS HR takes its time!), which will be in the next few months. I won't be qualified and on the HCPC register until December, which is when my salary will increase to NHS band 7 from band 6 (which I'm currently on). I've been saving up since I started work and am looking to buy a property (probably a flat) in central Birmingham or the surrounding area as I will now be on a permanent contract.

I have a Help to Buy ISA that I opened in April 2016 as well as other savings that add up to approximately £25,000, so by the time I look for a property, I'm expecting to have saved at least £30,000. I can transfer this money & some of my other savings into a LISA before next Friday (1st March), but if I did this I wouldn't be able to use it to purchase a property for a year.

What I'm stuck on is when to start looking and whether I would be looking at having purchased a property within that year, and therefore not get the full bonus on the LISA, or whether it will take longer. On my budget, and in the area I'll be looking to buy in, I think I'm going to have to act quite quickly if a suitable property comes up for sale. I'm currently in a house share signed on until next August, but I think if I signed up for another 6 months to a year my housemate (who is live in landlady) will be flexible with this although I do need to discuss it with her so I should still have somewhere to live.

My main question here is: when applying for a mortgage, is it your current salary that lenders take into account, or are your future earnings considered too? This will determine when I can start looking for a property and whether it would be a good idea to transfer my Help to Buy into a LISA. I will get a certificate of completion of training in October (providing I pass everything) but don't expect to get full band 7 salary until I go onto the HCPC register which I'm expecting to be in December. Will I need 3 months' payslips on my full band 7 earnings before I can get a mortgage?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

juniordoc

It depends on how much you want to borrow, how expensive a property you want to buy.
If you're after a less expensive flat then you may be successful in getting a mortgage agreed on your current band 6 salary.

Lolly88

It depends on the lender, if you have an offer of employment where the contract clearly indicates that you will be on Band 7 then some will take this into consideration.

Rainbow15

Thank you for the replies. I guess I have to think about whether I'm willing to try to get a mortgage before then or whether I would be better off waiting until I've been in my new job for a while.