Age gap mortgage

Geordielad82

Hi all,
I’m 38 years old and my partner is 56. We both live and rent together in London but are finally ready to buy somewhere just outside the city.

I earn 50k and my partner earns around 42k. We have a deposit of around 40k. But because of the age gap am I right in thinking the bank would only take my salary into account as I am the only one still able to get a 25 year mortgage realistically?

If we were both similar ages the amount we could borrow would be great, but on my salary alone it will be a struggle to get somewhere commutable to London. 

What are my options? All advice is greatly appreciated! 

MovingForwards

The lender would take both salaries into account, but the term would be based on the oldest.

minimike2

MovingForwards said:

The lender would take both salaries into account, but the term would be based on the oldest.

This is not accurate - Different lenders will view this in their own way.

There are plenty of options here, some of which depend on the amount you are looking to borrow.
Being 56 isn't an obstacle in itself by any means and there are plenty of options. You don't have to take a mortgage out over 25 years, it can be shorter if affordable. Also term isn't so much of an issue against the oldest borrower if the mortgage is affordable just on the salary of the younger as some lenders will allow the calculation done in this way and ignore the age of the elder applicant. You should seek advice from a broker to work out the best way to move forward, but you shouldn't have an issue just because of your partner's age.

comeandgo

Same as my husband and me.  We got a mortgage on both wages until he was 75.  This was with Nationwide

Dancer11

We completed nearly 3 weeks ago. I’m 44 and my husband is 61. 

After us pulling out on our first house we liked, that we applied jointly, (we thought the monthly payments would stretch us too far after only being offered a 14 year mortgage) we waited a few more months, found a cheaper house and applied through a different broker.

I had done my own research and I asked to be placed with Nationwide on a solo mortgage. (They originally suggested Santander, who I know would’ve declined based on a gifted deposit from someone living in the property & not on the mortgage!). 

The mortgage application went through within 9 days from application to offer with Nationwide with no questions asked, even though 75% of the deposit was gifted from my husband.
 I took the mortgage term over 29 years, but as it is over £320 less than our monthly rent payment I can overpay and reduce the term.   

Geordielad82

Dancer11 said:

We completed nearly 3 weeks ago. I’m 44 and my husband is 61. 

After us pulling out on our first house we liked, that we applied jointly, (we thought the monthly payments would stretch us too far after only being offered a 14 year mortgage) we waited a few more months, found a cheaper house and applied through a different broker.

I had done my own research and I asked to be placed with Nationwide on a solo mortgage. (They originally suggested Santander, who I know would’ve declined based on a gifted deposit from someone living in the property & not on the mortgage!). 

The mortgage application went through within 9 days from application to offer with Nationwide with no questions asked, even though 75% of the deposit was gifted from my husband.
 I took the mortgage term over 29 years, but as it is over £320 less than our monthly rent payment I can overpay and reduce the term.   

Thanks so much, looks like I will do something similar and just get a solo mortgage as it will still be cheaper than the rent. Regarding the deposit, I’ve saved up 30k and partner has 10k. Would it be best to transfer this to my account now? Do you get asked a lot of questions about the deposit?

Cat85MSE

My husband and I are in a similar situation. We took out a mortgage with Nationwide as they would give him one up to the age of 75. However when we looked at remortgaging (that product was interest only at the time when we took it out) we found a few more tricky areas to negotiate especially as we were looking to remortgage to a repayment one, fortunately during the interest only time we repaid a significant sum off the capital.

We both wanted to be named on the mortgage for legal reasons so in order for us to do this, it depends on what is your priority factor. For us it was to both be on the mortgage for as long as possible, Nationwide were unable to do anything due to the age between us, either I was too young and he was too old or vice versa. However we went to two different independent brokers and found we had quite a few options, so it can be done.

Dancer11

Geordielad82 said:

Dancer11 said:

We completed nearly 3 weeks ago. I’m 44 and my husband is 61. 

After us pulling out on our first house we liked, that we applied jointly, (we thought the monthly payments would stretch us too far after only being offered a 14 year mortgage) we waited a few more months, found a cheaper house and applied through a different broker.

I had done my own research and I asked to be placed with Nationwide on a solo mortgage. (They originally suggested Santander, who I know would’ve declined based on a gifted deposit from someone living in the property & not on the mortgage!). 

The mortgage application went through within 9 days from application to offer with Nationwide with no questions asked, even though 75% of the deposit was gifted from my husband.
 I took the mortgage term over 29 years, but as it is over £320 less than our monthly rent payment I can overpay and reduce the term.   

Thanks so much, looks like I will do something similar and just get a solo mortgage as it will still be cheaper than the rent. Regarding the deposit, I’ve saved up 30k and partner has 10k. Would it be best to transfer this to my account now? Do you get asked a lot of questions about the deposit?

You’re welcome. My husband put in 30k and myself 10k, so the other way round to you lol. 

At the time of the application, I had only transferred some of his deposit into my account. 

With Nationwide, unless the funds have been in your account for a year it is still classed as a gift anyway, so my husband had to sign a gift form. 

I sent statements showing where the deposit had come from in his account and also from my savings account. 

No questions were asked at all. To my broker I gave 3 months bank statements, 3 months payslips, and 2 years SA302’s for my part time business.  

I didn’t have anything else requested or asked, and for all my worrying that something would go wrong it all went really smoothly! 

We had no further credit checks either which I was so worried about as hubby had ordered a new car in July, and I applied for the mortgage in October. 

Nationwide did a hard credit search on him on application, but his HP finance for the car didn’t show on his report until the car was ready in November. 

We completed 2 and a half weeks before my mortgage offer was due to expire and I had received a letter stating it wouldn’t be renewed (yet it says on their site that new builds get a month extension automatically, but I didn’t receive notification of this!) so I was quite panicked that it would all fall through! Luckily, it didn’t.. 😁
Hope all goes smoothly for you too!