Getting a mortgage as a single parent.

[Giveme]

Will I be able to get a mortgage?
Currently getting my ducks in a row. I Currenty bring home around £900 after stoppages. My FT salary is double this which I will increase to after the covid crisis has subsided.
With tax credits and maintenance, I will have around 1,900 per month.
I will come out of the separation with 50,000 deposit which I will put down on a house which costs roughly 150-180,000.
Will they give me a mortgage? Do maintenance payments count as income?

My experience is that maintenance payments count if they are formal I.e. through CMS or if you have at least a year's evidence of them being paid in. That's with Barclays.

I got a mortgage for just over £100,000 based on pay of £1500. They wouldn't take child maintenance or tax credits into account as I didn't actually start receiving them until after house sale had gone through (was buying out ex and he was still living there temporarily). I was about at the limit of affordability.

I was told that lenders would not accept maintenance unless it was seen coming into bank account for 3-6 months, or court-ordered or in a signed minute of agreement.

But child benefit counts for income, so claim that if you can.

What's your actual salary? You'll get a mortgage offer based on that, with £50k deposit you'll need £130k which needs a salary of £29k.

It’s generally 4-4.5x your salary that you can borrow. Give a mortgage advisor a call.

Ring someone like LV brokers as I was told I had to have court order maintaine etc etc by my mortgage company and another broker it would have made an amicable seperation even worse in the end I didn’t take their advice I rang spoke with Liverpool Victoria who pointed me in right direction sorted new mortgage in less than a month

Sorry posted too soon I mean l&c London county mortgage brokers (not LV)

It's much more done on affordability now rather than income. They ask a lot about outgoings. Bear in mind that any benefits/maintenance have to last for the full term of the mortgage. My mortgage is 30 years so no benefits or maintenance would have been considered anyway as would stop when children reach 18.

Hey. The Halifax are the only mortgage lender that take into account benefits, child maintenance etc. Last year I got a mortgage on my own with them. No other lender will do it. Good luck x

@Serafinaaa

It's much more done on affordability now rather than income. They ask a lot about outgoings. Bear in mind that any benefits/maintenance have to last for the full term of the mortgage. My mortgage is 30 years so no benefits or maintenance would have been considered anyway as would stop when children reach 18.

In similar position so following for advice.

Seems unfair that they wouldn't take into account child maintenance for say 15 years, but might penalise you for childcare costs which might only be for another year or so :(

@scaredofchange

Hey. The Halifax are the only mortgage lender that take into account benefits, child maintenance etc. Last year I got a mortgage on my own with them. No other lender will do it. Good luck x

This is good to know. Our house has shot up in value the last couple of months (ex council house with big garden)... I'm kind of hoping that's a mini bubble and itll settle when the stamp duty holiday ends. I could probably cover it with earnings alone if that's the case otherwise I'll need child maintenance taking into account....

@napody

Think the reasoning is if they ex stops paying and it's not court ordered there's no real comeback and you could be stuffed.

Mine isn't court ordered so could include it anyway but was very careful to ensure my payments were set at a level I could afford even if he stopped paying.

I did point out the discrepancy between asking me my childcare costs but then not taking into account the fact I'd receive child benefit etc to help with that.

Serafinaaa exactly!

Toomanycats99 I see, but even if it is court ordered there are no guarantees are there? Like an above poster we have separated amicably which is why no court order.

Good to hear that some lenders will accept evidence of 3-6 months CM payments ... will continue following in case anyone has had any luck with others.

Thanks, really useful thread.

In the end I accepted their offer of a 35 year mortgage taking me up to about 70 (to keep the payments down) and I'll overpay as much as possible.

Late to this but yes you should be able to get a mortgage on affordability without maintenance taken into consideration. Over pay, have good habits and after a couple of years you can remortgage again on a better deal.

I’ve just been approved for a mortgage with Barclays which uses universal credit as part of my income. I earn £19k, had £100k deposit and got a mortgage for £109k.

Yes you can - you are best with a mortgage broker though who covers the whole of the market. Martin Lewis money saving website gives some good tips.
It’s doable - I earn £15,000 and got a mortgage for 90,000 - the only issue is I will be paying it off till I’m 75!!! - 55 when I took it out.