Hi everyone,

I know the best thing to do is to speak to a broker but just wondered if anyone has had any experience of this.

My husband and I already own our own home and have a mortgage of £200k plus we own another property which we rent out with a mortgage of £190k.

Before I went on maternity leave I only earned £15k per year. My husband is the main earner and earns just below £50k plus bonuses.

I've never earned more than this and in fact both our salaries were lower when we took out the other mortgages.

We are looking to move home and sell the house we live in. We have had an offer of £230k for it meaning we have £30k to put down on the new house which is £275k. So we need a mortgage of £245k.

What I want to know is how much me being on maternity leave affects what we can borrow? I plan on only going back part time but my employers haven't asked me yet what I intend to do and I don't need to tell them until 28 days before I return (which is in April).

We can easily afford the repayments on a £245k mortgage but I don't know what will happen regarding showing payslips etc. I am on maternity allowance only as I hadn't been employed by this company long enough to qualify for smp or their maternity scheme.

My husband is a financial advisor and will be speaking to his mortgage broker but he's on holiday at the moment and I'm just too impatient to wait! I want us to get this new house!

Sorry this is so off topic but I thought maybe someone might either be a mortgage broker/advisor or have Been through something similar.

Thank you in advance for any help!

Xxx

Hi, we just had a mortgage agreed in principle and they used my normal wage before the maternity leave to calculate whether they would lend us the amount we asked for and didn't even ask whether i would be earning the same amount after my maternity leave. I don't know if this is standard (I'm definitely not an expert on mortgages lol!) but it didn't seem to affect us at all!

x

Thanks hunniechunks, I know it's gonna vary from lender to lender but at least that gives me a glimmer of hope!

X

Yes, I do believe that they use you actual wage from work as you are officially still employed.
We are in the same situation, due to remortgage in January but we also need to move. I wont be returning to work until June but sadly to afford anything bigger round here (we need a 3 bed house, have a 2 bed apartment!) I will need to be working.
OH could cover the mortgage with his wage but we need to live on something.
But generally they will base it on you actual earnings as you are sill employed.

Oooh, ouchwithno2 thank you!
I did think they'd take into account your salary pre maternity leave but haven't ever come across anyone else in the situation.
I don't think we realised how much space a baby would take up! We have a fairly big 3 bed detatched house but even with just the 3 of us are finding it too small. The new place is a 5 bed detatched but I just know we'd fill it so easily, especially once we have another baby and I'd rather do the moving now than with 2 little ones!

Xxx

we have just moved. I am the main wage earner but now on SMP. We mortgaged with halifax and they based it on my pre-maternity wage but also required a written letter from me stating the hours I am returning on and the salary, and wrote to my HR department to get their confirmation of this. They did also take into account child benefit and working families tax credit. There was a chance they would ask for proof of our savings to show we could pay the mortgage until I returned but didnt require it in the end. Good luck!

Thanks jbbean, what would happen in my case though? I haven't told my employers what hours I plan on returning, although I know in my mind they don't want to know until 28 days before returning as they feel a more informed decision can be made by me then. So if I was to say to the mortgage company that I plan on going back full time they could write to my hr department but they would know nothing!
Hmmm, I guess we'll just have to see what the mortgage company throws our way. We do have a very good broker who 'bends' the truth sometimes!

X

We're just going through the process. I had to send a letter into Natwest to state that I would be returning to work. They also asked me for my boss to send a letter in too. They were happy with that.