Mortgage Application (Maternity Leave)

31records

Hello

My wife and I are planning to leave our rented flat in London soon to buy a house in Sussex/Kent. As we are FTBs I am planning to speak to a broker as our circumstances are a bit unusual I think.

For illustration we have two children of 2 and 10 months and my salary is £60k, my wife’s is £15k. No debts and deposit of £95k so looking at properties at £375k (75% LTV) so £1,200ish a month.

1. My wife is on maternity leave until January however we have recently extended it to July 2019 – I assume an underwriter will require evidence of future earnings eg: letter from her employer? My wife will in effect be unemployed for six months with no salary however we have saved £5k maternity pay that we intend to draw down over that period so is it possible to declare that plan on mortgage application so underwriter can see it?

2. On a related point, do underwriters consider what savings you are not using as part of deposit? £95k is a real stretch to get better deals but was wondering if we hold some back (£5-10k?) we’re better on affordability.

3. Would age impact on the amount we can borrow as when I include my age on Nationwide’s Mortgage Affordability Calculator (37) the amount drops 5-10% on a 25 year mortgage even when I say that we retire at 65?

4. My grandparents (Sussex!) have very kindly offered to look after our children two days a week, in London we paid for Nursery so will an underwriter need evidence eg: letter from my parents?

I have to admit we are finding life a bit challenging financially at the moment so why move now?! Our eldest needs to apply for schools by January 2020 so we have a year to find house/settle in.

Hoping to soft test the market with a broker shortly but any thoughts will be much appreciated…

Thanks in advance!

Owen

ACG

1) You are probably over thinking it. If you get a letter confirming return in July and her wage, that should be fine.

2) No

3) Age would not, but term might. You could try 26 or 27 years?

4) Usually just an explanation would be fine.

The whole story on the face of it appears to make sense. I would be relatively confident there will be lenders who will not make a meal of your application. Speak to a broker, they will get a better understanding and be able to probably give you some reassurance. Surprisingly (or may be not), a lot of our job is just hand holding and reassuring. I always say that our job is not to save you 50p a month but to take control of everything and make the process as smooth as possible.

31records

Hi ACG

Thanks for your comments this is really helpful and feeling better now about our circumstances… I will have another chat with my wife and looking to speak to a broker in the next week or two…

Owen

Thrugelmir

Employee opts to return to work by giving due notice. The employer isn't in a position to confirm on the employees behalf.

31records

Hi Thrugelmir

Thanks – and we will make sure that is included when pulling together the paperwork for broker!


Owen