Redundancy - Do we tell our mortgage lender?

Renonewbie

Hello, 
Me and my partner are just about to exchange contracts on our first house. However, my partner has two jobs and he has just been made redundant from one of them (the one which pays the most and the one used to secure our mortgage offer). I have no concerns on my wage and the fact he also still has money coming in from his second job that we will struggle financially and can still afford the mortgage. My question is do we need to tell our mortgage lender about his redundancy? My worry is that if we tell them they will retract the offer?
Thanks for any advice and help! 

Exodi

A brave question to ask on here, I very much doubt you'll get the answer you want to hear.

I'll be the first though - you are of course required to inform the lender of any major change of circumstances, redundancy being the main one. Whether you tell them is up to you, I'm sure some people here will tell you you're committing fraud but I can't imagine what many would actually do in your shoes.

md258

If you use the mortgage lenders calculators, can you still afford the mortgage based on your income and your partners remaining income? That will tell you whether there may be some wiggle room or whether it is likely to be a straight withdrawal of the offer. Could anyone gift you the shortfall?

Also, has your partner been made redundant or is he still "at risk" of redundancy? Until it actually happens, he still has a job and (I believe) doesn't need to tell the lender anything. Could you bring forward completion to a date when you still have a job?

If the salary drop doesn't allow you to get the mortgage you require, would there be other lenders which might? If you used a broker, they may be able to answer a "hypothetical" question of what might be available if your partner lost one of his jobs.

If you read through the contract, that may rule out some of the above, but I don't know what it says.

Raffi2020

I would strongly recommend you do tell them, unfortunately. You're obligated to let them know of any change of circumstances, and knowingly withholding information like that would not go down well if it were to come to light. 

I know it's frustrating, especially when you still feel confident that you could afford the mortgage and, in your eyes, it doesn't change the situation from your perspective much. But the lender will want to lend based on knowing the full facts of your financial situation.

I would be honest. If you were to try and hide it and get caught out, you'd almost certainly lose out on the mortgage and it could affect your chances of securing another - and if that happened late in the process you could also lose a substantial amount of money too. I know it would be horrible if the mortgage fell through because of this, but I think ultimately it's the lesser of two evils. 

Thrugelmir

Read the declaration that you signed when you applied for the mortgage. The terms of the contract are unambiguous. Failure to disclose is fraud. If matter go belly up.  You'll have to live with the consequences which will be extensive and long term. Finance companies share their data here.

https://www.nhunter.co.uk/

Choice is entirely yours to make. 

Renonewbie

Thanks for all your replies! We've decided the best thing to do is be honest, and unfortunately I'm fairly sure that means we will lose the mortgage offer. I highly doubt we would be offered another one by anyone else either so looks like we'll be pulling out right before exchange. Very disappointing but your right...the risk is just too much. Thanks again. 

Thrugelmir

Renonewbie said:

Thanks for all your replies! We've decided the best thing to do is be honest, and unfortunately I'm fairly sure that means we will lose the mortgage offer. I highly doubt we would be offered another one by anyone else either so looks like we'll be pulling out right before exchange. Very disappointing but your right...the risk is just too much. Thanks again. 

Don't forget you are also looking after yourselves. It's potentially your hard earnt savings at risk. There'll be plenty more opportunties in the future. You never know maybe to your advantage as well.  

Brock_and_Roll

Yes look on the bright side - not exchanged yet so not too much money lost. Will be more jobs and houses down the road. for a young couple........Did you really want the stress of making mortgage payments for who knows how long with limited funds?