Despite more and more people opting to become self-employed, it’s still challenging to get a mortgage, which can be both worrying and frustrating if you want to purchase a property. Challenges often arise as it’s not easy to prove you have a steady income stream that is significant enough to get the mortgage you want.
A recent case involves arranging a high LTV (loan-to-value) mortgage for a self-employed client for his prime London property purchase. The property was worth £4.625 million and the client wanted to borrow 85% of that amount.
In the bank’s eyes, self-employed individuals are less likely to have a regular and stable monthly income compared to those who are employed, although every lender works differently. Affordability now dominates mortgage applications, requiring both self-employed and employed individuals to provide in-depth details of both their outgoings and expenses, as well as overall income.
The good news is, the assessment of mortgages for self-employed individuals has improved dramatically, especially when the case is presented correctly by a broker. Although being self-employed is no longer as prohibitive as it once was when it comes to getting a mortgage, finding a lender willing to take a holistic view of self-employment all comes down to access.
Enness has specialist knowledge of this relatively niche area of the market and unrivalled experience in handling applications for self-employed individuals. As such, we sourced an attractive deal for the client at the rate of 2.79% per annum.