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Mortgage length confusion

I've asked a similar question in the past, but there's not been a clear answer.

In a few years I'll be 55. I'm a self employed author, with no pension. I currently rent a small house. My income comes from my backlist, and as long as I keep advertising, is fairly stable, without me doing anything else, so I could be earning the same money in 10 or a 100 years, without me writing anymore books, so in a sense it's almost passive. I would be a first time buyer and would have maybe 15k deposit and would be looking to get a flat of around 130k.

My question is about, how long of a period of a mortgage will I be able to get in 2 years from now? So from when I'm 55?

For a long time I thought it would be 55 to 67 (my retirement age). So, 12 years.

But then I read that some lenders go to age 70, 75 or 80. So I could still get a 20 year mortgage. Which drastically lowers my monthly payment. And that's really important from the 28% housing debt to income point of view. Because a 12 year mortgage would probably take my housing debt to income level a fair bit higher than 28%.

But then I read, I can only get a 20 year plus length mortgage, if I have a pension. Which I don't/won't have.

So, does anyone know what it would be? mortgage to 67? (12 years) or mortgage to 75 (20 year mortgage) without a pension?

Comments

  • kingstreet
    kingstreet Posts: 39,297 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    You've answered it yourself, really. It will depend on the lender as there is no homogeneous policy across the board. If you can successfully evidence the ongoing nature of your income then the longer-end of the term options should be available.

    It would be better if you spoke directly to a recommended broker to establish if you're able to evidence that income to a lender's satisfaction.
    I am a mortgage broker. You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. Please do not send PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.
  • TwoYearToMove
    TwoYearToMove Posts: 39 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 10 Posts
    You've answered it yourself, really. It will depend on the lender as there is no homogeneous policy across the board. If you can successfully evidence the ongoing nature of your income then the longer-end of the term options should be available.

    It would be better if you spoke directly to a recommended broker to establish if you're able to evidence that income to a lender's satisfaction.
    I have an accountant, so evidence of yearly income is not an issue. My question was more about, would I be able to get the longer terms, without a pension, and if that's possible.
  • MWT
    MWT Posts: 10,306 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    You've answered it yourself, really. It will depend on the lender as there is no homogeneous policy across the board. If you can successfully evidence the ongoing nature of your income then the longer-end of the term options should be available.

    It would be better if you spoke directly to a recommended broker to establish if you're able to evidence that income to a lender's satisfaction.
    I have an accountant, so evidence of yearly income is not an issue. My question was more about, would I be able to get the longer terms, without a pension, and if that's possible.
    As kingstreet already said, that is going to be an individual matter, lender by lender, hence the need to use a broker.
    Your accountant can evidence the history, the lender is going to need to be persuaded of the long term viability of that revenue-stream...
    If you can do that to their satisfaction then you are looking at the long end of the range, but given it is not a guaranteed income, in the way that a pension would be, it is going to come down to how persuaded they are that the revenue will not decline significantly over time, and how much room for decline there is given the current income level and the amount you wish to borrow.

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