COVID-19 and mortgages

[LittleB]

Can anyone shed any light on getting a mortgage with the current situation?

My husband and I were about to put our apartment (London) on the market just before lockdown - we held off but we are now starting to think about getting the process going again.

My husband owns a company (in a partnership) but he is taking half his normal weekly wage at the moment as work completely dried up for him for the first few weeks of lockdown, and he wants to ensure the business keeps ticking over.

Are banks giving mortgages out? I am worried that he won’t get a mortgage because he has taken a lower wage for the last couple of months? Will this affect us long term?

Desperate to move out of London!

Thanks.

 

[WhippetGood]

Hi banks are still doing mortgages yes. Some have increased their minimum deposit to 20% but some banks are still offering 90% mortgages. If your husband is self employed then they’ll want to see two years worth of accounts so lockdown shouldn’t affect it if you get a mortgage before he does this year’s tax returns. Your best bet is to contact your bank and they can do a mortgage toolkit for you whereby they will take your incomings and outgoings and let you know how much they can lend you. You can then go from there

 

[tiffycat]

We've just put our house on the market with no issues, in fact, we've already had a lot of viewings booked in after 1 day.

I've been doing a lot of research over the covid period and whilst most mortgages we're taken down, a lot are being readded at the moment.

It would probably be best going via a broker in your circumstances rather than a bank direct. That way they can advise on the best broker for your husband's self-employed earnings as different lenders take different views on it being lower during covid.

 

[Boutros-Boutros Ghali]

Do you have a mortgage at the moment? Are you looking to buy a more expensive property? We just sold our flat in London and moved North. Bought a house for £100k less than we sold our flat for so mortgage was ported across and whole thing took less than a day to be processed and agreed.

 

[LittleB]

Do you have a mortgage at the moment? Are you looking to buy a more expensive property? We just sold our flat in London and moved North. Bought a house for £100k less than we sold our flat for so mortgage was ported across and whole thing took less than a day to be processed and agreed.

Thanks for your reply. Yes I have a mortgage in my name, I bought the flat before I met my husband (it’s shared ownership). Congrats on your new home - hopefully things go as smoothly for us!

 

[Boutros-Boutros Ghali]

Similar situation to you, the mortgage is in my name (and still is) as made swapping over easier, when we remortgage will change it over to both of us. Mortgage was easy, rest of the purchase less so.....but we got there in the end