Getting a FTB mortgage on spouse visa

FA1027

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone could help! My wife and I are planning to buy a house as first time buyers.

My wife is a non-EU national who has been living in the UK for 3 years, but on her spouse visa since October 2020. She will get indefinite leave to remain in October 2025. She has been working as a secondary school teacher since Sept 2020. She has a good credit score with all three credit agencies.

I am a British citizen and have been working for the same employer for 4 years now. I earn roughly 65% of our joint income.

We are saving for a deposit, we are now in a position where we have roughly 16% deposit saved for a house within our budget (having looked at mortgage calculators online at what we could borrow).

However having looked online, it seems most lenders won't give us a mortgage unless we have 25% (!!!) deposit saved, or my wife has indefinite leave to remain. Both of these would take many years and we're in a position where we really want to buy now.

How likely do you think it is that we'd be able to get a mortgage in our current situation? Or will we just have to wait? Are there lenders who would accept us? Thank you for your help!

K_S

@FA1027 Setting aside any other relevant info in the background, based on the visa criteria alone and the limited info in your post, there are mainstream lenders who will consider lending at 85% LTV. If you haven't already, I would recommend getting in touch with a broker who can take all the pertinent details and give you a realistic idea of your options.

Alternatively, if you don't want to use a broker, you could identify the best buys using the MSE mortgage finder and then call up the individual lenders and check. Your scenario isn't particularly uncommon and unless there is something unusual/non-standard in the background, you should have options. Good luck!

lonibra

It's just lazy or inexperienced MBs who blurt out 25% deposit when they hear the word visa. That is not true and has never been true, even when my spouse and I were both on Tier 1 plus dependent visas.

FA1027

Thanks both. Really helpful advice, sounds like there is hope for us. Will try and find a specialist broker for this.