Mortgage when on maternity leave

Mortgagemama

Hi
I am currently on maternity leave and have asked my current employer for 4 months of unpaid continuous from my maternity leave. I am awaiting to hear back from my employer on whether this will be approved but my question is of you approach a broker or a bank for a mortgage will you be declined if you are on unpaid leave? We have been advised from a broker that they will want to see that you are going back to work within 3 months of getting your offer approved by a bank. What I wanted to know is whether I will be able to get a mortgage with my husband whilst on maternity leave (pre-unpaid leave) if we can prove we have funds to support the period I am off work before I return?

Would appreciate comments on this. Many thanks in advance. 

K_S

@mortgagemama It could be tricky. Some lenders will require confirmation from the employer as to your return date from maternity and the salary upon return. If the employer is willing to issue that, it should be fine.

What your broker said may be true for some lenders, but there are plenty who don't need the mat leave to end within 3 months of offer. I just placed a case last week for a couple where the Mrs had just started her mat leave over Christmas.

But the stint of unpaid leave right after maternity leave could make it tricky or lead to further queries from the lender if it comes up.

Diabhay15

Hi, we had a mortgage offer from Halifax back in October. I started maternity leave end of august, and I just supplied a letter from my employer (nhs) to state when my maternity leave will be ending and when I’ll be returning to work. 

My partner is self employed and I really thought that we would have alot  more questions due to this and maternity but we were offered 2 weeks after application. 

Hopefully if you can supply evidence of return date and back up funds for whilst you’re unpaid you should be ok 🤞🏼

[Deleted User]

I put a similar case to a lender last year.  They just wanted proof of savings (outwith the deposit) to show the shortfall in income being covered.
Different lenders have different policies but on the whole it shouldnt be impossible

Mortgagemama

Thank you for your helpful comments. It's encouraging to know that it's completely possible to get the mortgage whilst on mat leave. Hopefully if my employer can sort the return date and salary after unpaid leave this should be sufficient. Also if we can show we can make the payments whilst I'm off work this will work in our favour.

Thanks again :-) 

[Deleted User]

I've just started maternity leave and just had my mortgage approved with natwest. Even though I've been off sick on my past three payslips (pregnancy related). I really thought they would want more info but because we seriously under borrowed what we could have borrowed they were fine. I think each lender will have their own policy,  my MA simply asked me how I will manage money when the SMP ran out, I just explained that we will be putting away savings each month and they were fine. We don't have much outgoings either.