Mortgage on Benefits: What are our chances?

ducksintown98

As a rough estimate, what are my chances of getting a mortgage while on benefits?
Our house is currently worth £155, and we would be looking to leap-frog to £210-ish.

We live together and have an annual income of around £11000 each.

Are there any lenders specifically known to take on clients on benefits?
In the current market we would, of course, be looking to overpay significantly
each month to get the mortgage off as soon as possible.

housebuyer143

Honestly, it's not the benefits that would be the problem, but your income. Most lenders lend between 4-5x your annual salary, minus committed outgoings, so even if they took all your income into account, you wouldn't be looking at much borrowing. 

MFWannabe

Do you mean you own current house and want to move to a property of 210k ish which you would need a mortgage for?

ducksintown98

MFWannabe said:

Do you mean you own current house and want to move to a property of 210k ish which you would need a mortgage for?

We'll most likely be moving soon, and the rates for detached are going for around £200/high-£100s.  Our house is currently worth £155K.

ducksintown98

To be honest, by the time we've done it up, it'll probably be worth more towards £165/£170.  We're both building up savings, too.

ducksintown98

housebuyer143 said:

Honestly, it's not the benefits that would be the problem, but your income. Most lenders lend between 4-5x your annual salary, minus committed outgoings, so even if they took all your income into account, you wouldn't be looking at much borrowing. 

In my original post, when I said "each", I meant we both earn £11,000 each which, added up, tots up to roughly £22,000 a year.  We would most likely do a joint application, too.  I'm working on building my credit score, but am fairly new to the game myself.

1616six

Without sounding nosey, when you say you’re both on benefits - is this your sole income or do you both work but also claim other benefits which amount to 11k each?

If your current status is both unemployed and presumably on UC, a combined income of £22k and no employment is I would confidently say going to make it extremely difficult to get any kind of lender on side with.

When you mention your current house - are you mortgage free at the moment? 

ducksintown98

1616six said:

Without sounding nosey, when you say you’re both on benefits - is this your sole income or do you both work but also claim other benefits which amount to 11k each?

If your current status is both unemployed and presumably on UC, a combined income of £22k and no employment is I would confidently say going to make it extremely difficult to get any kind of lender on side with.

When you mention your current house - are you mortgage free at the moment? 

Hiya.  Thanks for delivering the bad news.  We're both unemployed but the other half is looking for work and to stop claiming benefits.  This will most likely happen in the new year.

We're mortgage free at the moment, yes.

marcia_

 If your Only income is from benefits I can't see you getting a mortgage as benefits are not guaranteed and can be taken away. 

housebuyer143

ducksintown98 said:

1616six said:

Without sounding nosey, when you say you’re both on benefits - is this your sole income or do you both work but also claim other benefits which amount to 11k each?

If your current status is both unemployed and presumably on UC, a combined income of £22k and no employment is I would confidently say going to make it extremely difficult to get any kind of lender on side with.

When you mention your current house - are you mortgage free at the moment? 

Hiya.  Thanks for delivering the bad news.  We're both unemployed but the other half is looking for work and to stop claiming benefits.  This will most likely happen in the new year.

We're mortgage free at the moment, yes.

ducksintown98 said:

1616six said:

Without sounding nosey, when you say you’re both on benefits - is this your sole income or do you both work but also claim other benefits which amount to 11k each?

If your current status is both unemployed and presumably on UC, a combined income of £22k and no employment is I would confidently say going to make it extremely difficult to get any kind of lender on side with.

When you mention your current house - are you mortgage free at the moment? 

Hiya.  Thanks for delivering the bad news.  We're both unemployed but the other half is looking for work and to stop claiming benefits.  This will most likely happen in the new year.

We're mortgage free at the moment, yes.

If you are mortgage free then affordability might not be an issue because you only need a small loan. UC isn't normally accepted for unemployment as it's not guaranteed, however a lot of lenders will take PIP if that is what you are claiming. 
Without knowing exactly what you claim it's hard for anyone to say.

1616six

ducksintown98 said:

1616six said:

Without sounding nosey, when you say you’re both on benefits - is this your sole income or do you both work but also claim other benefits which amount to 11k each?

If your current status is both unemployed and presumably on UC, a combined income of £22k and no employment is I would confidently say going to make it extremely difficult to get any kind of lender on side with.

When you mention your current house - are you mortgage free at the moment? 

Hiya.  Thanks for delivering the bad news.  We're both unemployed but the other half is looking for work and to stop claiming benefits.  This will most likely happen in the new year.

We're mortgage free at the moment, yes.

I think it’s one of those where you have to look at it from the lenders point of view too. You may see yourself as a low risk but the lender won’t. 

There are stories daily of people in long term employment who save for years and still get declined, being completely open with you I just can’t see a lender looking at this case and seeing two individuals on 11k each per year with no other income, no current mortgage to evidence clear payments, no guaranteed income at all either. As I’m sure you know, benefits can be sanctioned at the drop of at hat.

If you’re currently mortgage free then I’d personally just shelve the idea until you’re in a better position - when you mention you are both unemployed, is it just a temporary unfortunate situation that will soon change for you both? As mentioned above, if there’s more to it and you’re medically not working and receive PIP, it can be a different story.