To think I could get the mortgage ?

[Theneverendingtories]

I’d like to buy my home.
its a small semi in north London and worth £385k according to zoopla sold price of an identical house on the road. It’s a very small house the bathroom is downstairs off the kitchen and it has tiny windows and is odd but has a colossal garden which we love very much . It’s a 2 minute walk to my sons school as well.
currently I have to wait about another 8 months for the last of my debts to go ‘statute barred’ and disappear from my credit file. I’ve not worked for some years but I’ve just finished a degree that allows me to become a trainee teacher and get £28k per year including location bonuses .
so currently the finances look like this :
£112k right to buy discount
£120k inheritance due from probate ( agreed , calculated by executor just tactically waiting a few months before completing the transactions)
£60k offered by ex as cash gift in lieu of child support for 5 years ( he gives me £1000 per month until now)
so totals a £292k deposit .
means I need a mortgage of £93k.

baring in mind my hideous credit history and that I’ll only just have started work after a ten year hiatus , will that mortgage be agreed? It’s a pretty massive deposit isn’t it? .

i have spent countless hours and a fortune making this place nice ( think working through the night while child sleeps doing DIY ) and I think I’d die if they ever took it away from me. I want to leave this house in a box .

I cannot stress how much the safety and security of this home means to me after a horrible unsettled life. Can I do this? Or am I dreaming?

For clarity - you’ll be a student teacher the job is a bit of a red herring. Student placements aren’t employment as such and they are temporary. If you’re doing a standard PGCE course then you won’t have a contract. If you’re doing something like TF then the contract is full of termination stuff, they can and will kick you off the course if you’re not on track. I know someone on that course this year, not really her fault (she wasn’t supported well) who left before finishing. I know another who had to be moved. All of this is an issue for mortgages.

If you are receiving a training bursary, this is not counted as employed income for mortgage purposes.

Your best bet would be to speak to a good broker, possibly one who specialises in adverse/non-vanilla cases.

Given that your debts were incurred so long ago they're unlikely to be a problem for most specialist lenders even now, so rates might not be the absolute best but they won't be huge (although you could wait the 8 months and then you'd probably get a better rate still).

The teacher training will be the problem, if it's a training bursary rather than traditional employment, but a good broker will know better than me whether or not there are lenders who'll work with it. I imagine the most likely will be Teachers Building Society, which - as the name suggests - is a lender who lends specifically to teachers - but you might need to wait til your credit file is completely clean, rather than trying to stack two non-standard things (debts and bursary) into one application.

this makes a lot of sense. There’s no urgency as such, I could wait two years and then I’d have completed my training and been paid for a year. I have a first in a very ‘in demand’ subject and I have 10 hrs in a relevant vocational role to teaching so I’m pretty confident I’ll get something local.

10 years! Ffs

So it’s the bursary you’re quoting. This isn’t a salary and nor is it employment. I can 100% tell you brokers won’t count it and you are classed as a student and not employed. You’ll need to wait to finish your training.

Sorry to jump on this thread to ask a question but I thought you always needed three payslips minimum for a mortgage?

That's not the case

It’s not illegal for him to give you the money. However, he’ll have to sign to say he’s got no interest in the property and the money is a gift. Also, there will be literally nothing stopping you going to the CMS in the future to claim child support as he will be considered as not paying.

I do see what you mean I could get a document signed saying that the money is agreed maintenance advance until such and such a date I guess? . He honestly knows I wouldn’t do that anyway . We still eat together most evenings and take kids on holiday together etc . We’re super close and really look out for each other . There’s perfect trust still.

Not sure how taxation on gifts works in the UK, but wouldn’t you have to pay it on the money from your ex?

because it’s child maintenance it’s tax free . It’s just money he’d have sent anyway but in a lump sum rather than each month . For that reason I’d assume it’s all good on the tax front .

The drop out rate in ITT and as an ECT is horrendous
Dont assume that you will get to be a qualified teacher. A 1st class degree is no indication at all that you will make it as a teacher

Good luck- dont want to sound gloomy but you need to be realistic. You are about to start 3 years of working 70- 80 hours a week in tough tough conditions.

It's potentially not counted as maintenance.

If your ex takes legal advice he'll be told to not gift you that money. With all due respect, he's trusting you with the £60K lump sum and then another £60K as you could still claim CMS.

I appreciate that it’s challenging. I have a few friends who teach secondary . Before I gave up work for a bit I did a job that involved 15 hr days and huge amounts of stress and responsibility which almost drove me round the bend. Hence I decided to do the stay at home mum bit while I could get away with it. I could have worked and was offered jobs but I decided not to and to do a second degree instead. I do wonder how well I’ll adjust to being busy again. It won’t be easy. If I hate it , I hate it, at least it’s paid and not clocking up more student debt and I’ll just go back into my previous job but part time or something. I won’t say why or what because it’s really outing but I’ll never be without a job if I want to work there’s always a role open for me.

I honestly don’t think he’s that worried . He gave my oldest a car that was worth a quarter of that and she’s not even his bio daughter. We’re just back from holiday together for the second time this year. We’ve been best friends for 20 years. I’d lend him a million quid if I had it . It’s not much money to him at all. He’d give me more but I want to do things for myself and be independent.

Is he an ‘ex’ for the sake of claiming UC?

You may be close now but what if you were to be a twat and go to CMS saying he hasn't paid CMS. What if he lost his job and therefore didn't owe that money? As I said, I think he'd be advised not to do it unless he had some share of the equity.

I’d be a damn fool to do that and I’d never dream of it ! If I need money I can just ask . Currently this man is the only person who ever cares for my youngest except me , he’s my only friend , he cuts my grass, does my shopping and pays for our holidays and takes us away as I don’t drive and couldn’t cope doing it alone. He would just hand me that money if I asked for it , it’s sod all to him , I just want to feel like I’m doing it myself . He’s the nicest loveliest human being on the planet and if it weren’t for my youngest kids birth and the mental issues it caused, we would still be together and very happy.

@Theneverendingtories and what if either of you decide to move on?

That’s what I really wanted him to do that’s why I told him to move out when I decided to become celibate at 32. I wanted him to have a normal relationship as long as he was there for our son. I’ll never bother meeting anyone there’s no point as I throw up at the thought of it but he could have found someone new 100% but he says he’s bald and fat now and can’t be arsed after all these years. But I think he says that because he just feels guilty about everything that went on and how it affected me , like he feels responsible for us. Deep down I’d have felt better if he had moved on with someone . It’s a waste really . He’d never have stopped helping out though . I know that much.