You need to start by knowing what you can borrow and if you can borrow it.

Then get together all of your documents and contact a reputable mortgage advisor who can review your information and search the whole market to find you the best deal (it’s how the majority of mortgages in the UK are arranged)

• Photo ID e.g. passport or driving licence
• Proof of address e.g. Utility bill (dated in last 3 months) or Council Tax bill
• Proof of earnings e.g.
  • Employed: P60 & last 3 months payslips
  • Self Employed: Up to 3 years self-employed accounts / SA302s

• Proof of all other income:
  • Maintenance, Benefits. Rental Income, Pension

• Last 4 months bank statements
• Credit Report
• Detail of existing mortgage / tenancy agreement
• Details of any loans / credit cards / credit commitments including student loan
• Detail of existing mortgage related insurance policies e.g. Life Insurance, Income Protection, Employee Benefits

All lenders make decisions about how much they think borrowers can reasonably afford.

Mortgage affordability is the term they use to describe the process they use to assess a person’s financial position, to calculate how much they think a borrower can reasonably afford to spend on a mortgage each month.

Every lender has their own criteria for this calculation and will stress test the results at varying levels.

This is why the amount you can borrow can vary quite a bit depending on the lender.

Loan to Value (LTV) is basically the percentage you are borrowing against the overall value of the property.

For example, if you are buying a property for £200000 and you are borrowing £180000 The loan to value will be 90%, because you are borrowing 90% of the value of the property, meaning you require a 10% deposit which would be the remaining £20000 of the full purchase price.

To calculate your LTV you subtract your deposit from your purchase price and then divide what you need to borrow by the full purchase price and multiply by 100:

Purchase price £250000 – Deposit £30000= £220000 Loan Required

£220000/£250000= 0.88 x 100 = 88%

This is a non-binding certificate issued by a lender following a basic assessment of a prospective borrower’s affordability and credit history at the time.

It is not a guarantee that a lender will actually lend because it does not check that you meet lender criteria and it is not related to a specific property.

It is confirmation that ‘potentially’ it is possible to borrow a particular amount and you can use this to financially qualify any offer you make with an estate agent.

People are often disappointed to find that it is not guaranteed and that a full application would still need to be submitted to achieve a formal mortgage offer.

Your formal mortgage offer is your only guarantee of lending once your application has been verified and fully underwritten.

Rather than repaying both the capital and interest on your mortgage as you go along, you only  pay the interest.

This can work out to be cheaper on a monthly basis, but it also means that at the end of the mortgage term you will not own the property and will need to pay off the mortgage with a lump sum or switch to a repayment mortgage.

How long is a piece of string?!

Seriously though, how much you can borrow will depend on a variety of factors including your income, type of income, whether you have any financial dependents, what your monthly financial commitments are (credit, maintenance, leasehold charges), your age and the property you are looking to buy.

There may also be additional criteria considerations depending on which lender you are borrowing from. This is why there can be considerable variation in the amount you can borrow between lenders.

Generally speaking 5%, however there are 100% mortgages available for people who can evidence a track record of renting for at least one year.

Yes you can!! The majority of lenders like to see 2 years proof of income, some like to see 3 years and some will consider just a year of earnings. We work to find the best solution for you

No such thing…

It’s about two things: Is the right lender for your needs and circumstances and Is this the cheapest lender?

The trick is to find the cheapest and most appropriate lender for your own unique circumstances so the answer will be different for everyone.

Typically is takes around 4 weeks to secure a mortgage offer, but this can be shorter or longer depending on how quickly you can submit the required documentation and what lender service levels are like at the time.

I will always look at service levels as part of the recommendation process and let you know the likely timescales before we submit an application for you.

Stamp Duty otherwise known as  Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a tax charged on the transferal of property within the UK and is subject to change.

This depends on the circumstances –  you can calculate your potential stamp duty liability here:

Absolutely, there are lots of possibilities and we can explain and advise on the various options available.

All mortgage products have an initial benefit period that typically varies between 2-10 years. When you reach the end of your current mortgage’ benefit period, your existing lender will offer you a new product to stay with them (so that you don’t transfer onto the more expensive standard variable rate).

If you choose to stay with your lender but switch to the new product, this is known as a Product Transfer. This is not always the cheapest option so it’s a good idea to compare a product transfer with remortgaging to a new lender.

You can start this process up to 6 months before your existing deal is due to end.

Yes you can. Not all lenders will do this but there are many that will and we can navigate this for you.

Hands up if you work for free? No?! Me either!!

Jokes aside, transparency is key here.

Let’s be honest, no one works for free, do they, and at the end of the day we all want to know exactly what we’re getting, when we part with our hard earned money, we need to see the value, I know I do and that is fair enough.

So this is the way that we work:

All initial consultations are free,

My work is based on quality relationships and you need to be comfortable and confident in working with me. I’m not everyone’s cup of tea and that’s ok, but if you’re paying for a service you need to be sure that I’m the right person to provide that service for you.

Our fees are staggered to spread the cost for you and to pay for the work already undertaken on your behalf.

The research and decision in principle stage is actually the most time intensive, so the first fee is charged for submission of a Decision in Principle. I will only submit to a lender where you meet their affordability and lending criteria and I know a full mortgage application is likely to be successful.

The remainder of the fee is charged at submission of a Full Mortgage Application, because this is next time intensive stage – chasing the lender to offer as soon as possible and then liaising with solicitors to ensure smooth and swift completion.

Should your sale fall through there is a grace period of 12 months for change of advice and subsequent application with no fee charged

There are no fees for protection advice and applications

I charge a fee so that I can guarantee a minimum service level. A typical application takes 12-15 hours of work until the mortgage offer is issued and then we spend around the same amount of time post application chasing and liaising with estate agents and solicitors to advocate on your behalf, we cannot do this if we do not charge a fee.

There are lots of things that can slow down a mortgage application.

• The lender may have queries about initial documents submitted and require further information.
• The lender may have requested further documents or information and these are pending review
• There may be a wait for a physical valuation on the property
• There can also be long lead times if a particular lender is experiencing a high number of mortgage applications at the time.

This is quite normal and nothing to worry about