Halifax & Santander withdrawn mortgage offers

Dim42

Hi all,
I'm trying to figure out what we should do as our mortgage offer was withdrawn from Santander a week after they send us the offer letter. 
We initially applied through our broker to Halifax. The mortgage was declined by underwriters without any detail. Our broker immediately applied to Santander because he said they will explain reason of denial even though he thought it was highly unlike to be denied. They offered a mortgage and a week later they withdrawn it. The withdrawn letter had no reason as to why they pulled off their offer. Our broker says the bank "is concerned with our long term sustainability" and believes there is something the underwriter doesn't like with my current employee's file in the House of companies.  

1. Could this be a sensible reason?
2. Should we continue to chase a mortgage from another lender or are we only wasting time and sanity?
3. If we shouldn't chase anymore, then for how long should we wait until trying again? 
4. Should we apply for a mortgage to the bank my employee is banking with, as they will have a better view of my employee's finances?

Both me and my wife are employers, so nothing complicated with our finances.
A second broker looked into our docs and wasn't able to say why any of our 2 mortgage applications failed.

Any help much appreciated.

haras_n0sirrah

Did you actually get a formal offer or were these agreement in principles?
If you are self employed your mortgage application will be highly scrutinised, I am not sure what your employee has to do with it?
For a mortgage to be offered and then withdrawn is very unusual and suggests something may be amiss. Could anything be recorded with national hunter or could you have a cifas marker?

Thrugelmir

What is the connection between yourself and your employer? 

Dim42

Thank you for replying. I really appreciate it.
We received a formal 8 page offer (+ T&Cs) by post from Santander. 
I'm not self employed, I am on a permanent role. I started 2 months ago and my probation ends August. Thrugelmir
Both myself and wife got credit reports from checkmyfile and there is nothing alarming in there.
I submitted a subject access request with cifas and will explore national hunter, but I find it highly unlikely to have any issues there.Thank you for your suggestion haras_n0sirrah

[Deleted User]

You didnt answer the question
Are you each employed by a different open market employer that you have ABSOLUTELY NO CONNECTION WITH ? 

Or are you both employed by a close connection family business that either of you or close family members run ? 

[Deleted User]

Your broker needs to speak to his/her Business Development Manager to get answers.   Withdrawn mortgage offers were not uncommon post lockdown when people had to notify about being on furlough but in general its very rare.  

Do you work in an industry thats at risk of a financial downturn? Hospitality or Travel for instance?  Even if thats the case it wouldnt make sense for a case to be offered and then withdrawn. Santander are being really annoying at the moment and underwriting cases to a high degree. For them to offer a case then pull it is very strange. 

Broker contacting BDM is the first step

minttie

Dim42 said:

Our broker believes there is something the underwriter doesn't like with my current employee's file in the House of companies.  

Both me and my wife are employers, so nothing complicated with our finances. 

Does OP mean:
both OP and wife are “employed” employees;
and the broker believes the underwrite doesn’t like OP’s current employer’s file in the House of Companies?

haras_n0sirrah

I think he has got employer and employee the wrong way around which is why I was initially confused.

MovingForwards

OP how long have you / your wife lived in the UK?
Are you / your wife on a visa?
(Please accept my apologies if you are UK born / citizen)

Have you looked at Companies House to see what information is held about the company you work for? 
Are they late filing accounts?
Is there a proposal to strike off?
Has it only just formed as a limited company?
How many name changes has the company had?
How often are directors / secretaries changed?

Do you / your wife own any part of the business you work for?
Are you / your wife a director / secretary of the company you work for?
Is it a relative who owns the company you work for?

What type of business is it you work for?

How long were you / your wife in your previous jobs?
What type of business was that?

We can guess all we want, but with answers to the above questions, it may highlight what the issue is.

Brock_and_Roll

Isnt this a simple answer...OP says his probation ends in August. So in a week or so they could just let him go for no reason.

MovingForwards

The lender could have put a clause in the mortgage offer to say must have completed probation and monies won't be released until after X date (that's what my lender did).