Furlough before Completion

r2bkatie

Hi

I was hoping I might be able to get a little advice please

We are currently in the process of purchasing our first home - We have a mortgage offer and yesterday we received the Mortgage Deed through for signature yesterday. However, since we applied for the mortgage my husband has been placed on furlough - Am I right in thinking that we need to advise Natwest of this change, and does anyone know what impact this might have on us going ahead with exchange and completion? Is there anything we can proactively do to increase our chances of this all going ahead?

To give a bit more background, my husband only works part time and I am the higher earner and have actually received a payrise which would easily cover my husbands drop in pay - We also have a LTV of around 68%.

Its taken us quite a long time to get to this stage (we started back in May last year) and I am obviously quite anxious that we may be about to fall at the final hurdle. 

Thank you

MWT

How long do you think you have before exchange?

When did you actually apply for the NatWest mortgage?

I believe for applications after 1st December they are no longer accepting any furlough pay in their calculations, but this is something one of the brokers on here may be able to confirm?

r2bkatie

We applied for the mortgage back in August and got our offer through in September. I am hoping we will exchange quite quickly as there is no chain and we are already living in the property. If we already have the offer do we need to let them know of the change? 

r2bkatie

Thank you @MWT

MWT

Yes, you are obliged to advise them of the change, but wait to hear from one of the brokers for their perspective on NatWest and if the earlier application date might be helpful given the recent change....

In your favour you have the pay rise, but would it be enough to meet their affordability criteria without any of your husband's furlough income?

Do you have a broker involved at the moment or are you doing this on your own?

r2bkatie

Thank you MWT - I think my salary would be sufficient, do you know how they calculate this? My salary is £57k and we are looking to borrow £168k.

K_S

@r2bkatie This is what they use for affordability calculations https://rbsintermediaries.hdddirectsolutions.co.uk/Natwest

That should give you an indication re affordability on your sole income.

r2bkatie

Thank you @K_S - The calculator indicated I would be able to borrow £242,500.00 so this is positive.

r2bkatie

Do you know if they need to recalculate the mortgage based on my sole income will they be able to amend our current offer or will we need to reapply? And would my husband still be on the mortgage? Thank you

MWT

Your husband will still be on the mortgage, they just may not be able to take his income into account, but from the looks of things that isn't a big issue given the level of your salary.

It shouldn't be a new application, but it may take a little while if it goes back into underwriting for approval.

r2bkatie

Thanks @MWT that's really helpful to know.
We've had a bit of an update this morning, and my husband has had it confirmed that he will be returning to work from 1st Feb. With this in mind, are we best just to keep quiet? It's very unlikely that we will complete in the next 10 days and so by the time we are ready to do so he will be in the same position as when we applied.